Author: Tom Hunt
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307430812
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Beachy Head is a bit of quintessential England–a seaside promontory where green pastures roll to the edge of chalk cliffs, a place of sheep and wind and ineffable beauty. But it is also a major landmark on the map of self-inflicted death. Since 1965, some five hundred people have ended their lives by jumping or driving or simply walking off the 535-foot cliffs, making Beachy Head one of the most popular suicide spots in the world. And still they come, every week another one or two–the young and the old, the terminally ill and the vigorously healthy, the bereft, the insane, the despairing. Why here? Why so many? One chilly English spring, American writer and teacher Tom Hunt left his home and family and journeyed to this bucolic landscape to find out. In a narrative that seamlessly weaves together personal memoir, history, travelogue, and investigative journalism, Hunt recounts a season of disturbing revelations (including that Princess Diana allegedly came here intending to jump). Still reeling from a suicide in his own family, Hunt arrives in England obsessed with Beachy Head’s grisly mystique, yet utterly unsure of what he would discover. Gradually, with typical English reserve, the people who haunt this extraordinary place release their secrets. Servers in the local tavern–known among residents as the Last Stop Pub–whisper about their encounters with hollow-eyed men and women in their final hours. The celebrated local witch asserts his belief that the place was once used for human sacrifice. The kindly coroner provides access to suicide notes, photographs, and the Sudden Death file. “It’s a very cold solution,” confides a wheelchair-bound ex-hippie who miraculously survived his own jump. In the course of wrenching interviews with bereft family members, watchful taxi drivers, and brave rescue workers, it dawns on Hunt that in each of us is a will to die every bit as tenacious and unyielding as the desire to live–and that Beachy Head stiffens and heightens this death wish. It’s a stage that all but begs to be leapt from. A work of terrible sadness and harrowing revelations, Cliffs of Despair is the account of an unforgettable journey to a place where beauty and death collide.
Cliffs of Despair
Author: Tom Hunt
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307430812
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Beachy Head is a bit of quintessential England–a seaside promontory where green pastures roll to the edge of chalk cliffs, a place of sheep and wind and ineffable beauty. But it is also a major landmark on the map of self-inflicted death. Since 1965, some five hundred people have ended their lives by jumping or driving or simply walking off the 535-foot cliffs, making Beachy Head one of the most popular suicide spots in the world. And still they come, every week another one or two–the young and the old, the terminally ill and the vigorously healthy, the bereft, the insane, the despairing. Why here? Why so many? One chilly English spring, American writer and teacher Tom Hunt left his home and family and journeyed to this bucolic landscape to find out. In a narrative that seamlessly weaves together personal memoir, history, travelogue, and investigative journalism, Hunt recounts a season of disturbing revelations (including that Princess Diana allegedly came here intending to jump). Still reeling from a suicide in his own family, Hunt arrives in England obsessed with Beachy Head’s grisly mystique, yet utterly unsure of what he would discover. Gradually, with typical English reserve, the people who haunt this extraordinary place release their secrets. Servers in the local tavern–known among residents as the Last Stop Pub–whisper about their encounters with hollow-eyed men and women in their final hours. The celebrated local witch asserts his belief that the place was once used for human sacrifice. The kindly coroner provides access to suicide notes, photographs, and the Sudden Death file. “It’s a very cold solution,” confides a wheelchair-bound ex-hippie who miraculously survived his own jump. In the course of wrenching interviews with bereft family members, watchful taxi drivers, and brave rescue workers, it dawns on Hunt that in each of us is a will to die every bit as tenacious and unyielding as the desire to live–and that Beachy Head stiffens and heightens this death wish. It’s a stage that all but begs to be leapt from. A work of terrible sadness and harrowing revelations, Cliffs of Despair is the account of an unforgettable journey to a place where beauty and death collide.
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307430812
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Beachy Head is a bit of quintessential England–a seaside promontory where green pastures roll to the edge of chalk cliffs, a place of sheep and wind and ineffable beauty. But it is also a major landmark on the map of self-inflicted death. Since 1965, some five hundred people have ended their lives by jumping or driving or simply walking off the 535-foot cliffs, making Beachy Head one of the most popular suicide spots in the world. And still they come, every week another one or two–the young and the old, the terminally ill and the vigorously healthy, the bereft, the insane, the despairing. Why here? Why so many? One chilly English spring, American writer and teacher Tom Hunt left his home and family and journeyed to this bucolic landscape to find out. In a narrative that seamlessly weaves together personal memoir, history, travelogue, and investigative journalism, Hunt recounts a season of disturbing revelations (including that Princess Diana allegedly came here intending to jump). Still reeling from a suicide in his own family, Hunt arrives in England obsessed with Beachy Head’s grisly mystique, yet utterly unsure of what he would discover. Gradually, with typical English reserve, the people who haunt this extraordinary place release their secrets. Servers in the local tavern–known among residents as the Last Stop Pub–whisper about their encounters with hollow-eyed men and women in their final hours. The celebrated local witch asserts his belief that the place was once used for human sacrifice. The kindly coroner provides access to suicide notes, photographs, and the Sudden Death file. “It’s a very cold solution,” confides a wheelchair-bound ex-hippie who miraculously survived his own jump. In the course of wrenching interviews with bereft family members, watchful taxi drivers, and brave rescue workers, it dawns on Hunt that in each of us is a will to die every bit as tenacious and unyielding as the desire to live–and that Beachy Head stiffens and heightens this death wish. It’s a stage that all but begs to be leapt from. A work of terrible sadness and harrowing revelations, Cliffs of Despair is the account of an unforgettable journey to a place where beauty and death collide.
Edge of Despair
Author: Debra Delaney
Publisher: Poolbeg Press
ISBN: 9781781994566
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 514
Book Description
A must-read for fans of Anna Jacobs, Dilly Court and Jennifer Donnelly Plans are nothing more than dust and life has a way of dangling happiness in front of you, only to snatch it away. Victoria Caldwell discovers it's much easier to protect her children when decisions are made for them. Would her son, Sean, really have ended his life? Is her daughter, Bella, old enough to choose the right man? Will her stepdaughter, Kate, allow her insecurities to ruin her life? For Victoria, their pain is her torture. Sean's life in America was a heady mix of work and pleasure until faced with betrayal, his world collapses and he heads home, unsure if he can start again. Penniless and facing a lifetime working at the mill, everyone has their breaking point - has he reached his? Confronted with temptation, will he overcome his demons or allow them to consume him? Bella finds the world exciting, but why do people play games with each other? Surely life would be simpler if everyone was open and honest... When Bella falls in love with a handsome stranger, her happiness is complete. But will her innocence and naivety be her downfall? Kate is clever and witty yet filled with vulnerabilities. With her heart broken, can she get off her path to self-destruction? Whatever her reasons for being reckless and selfish while longing for the unobtainable, things have to change. Can she do something worthwhile with her life? Many reach the edge of despair, but most come back from it. Will these three young people learn that the path ahead doesn't have to be clear - they just need to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving? Or will they give up fighting?
Publisher: Poolbeg Press
ISBN: 9781781994566
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 514
Book Description
A must-read for fans of Anna Jacobs, Dilly Court and Jennifer Donnelly Plans are nothing more than dust and life has a way of dangling happiness in front of you, only to snatch it away. Victoria Caldwell discovers it's much easier to protect her children when decisions are made for them. Would her son, Sean, really have ended his life? Is her daughter, Bella, old enough to choose the right man? Will her stepdaughter, Kate, allow her insecurities to ruin her life? For Victoria, their pain is her torture. Sean's life in America was a heady mix of work and pleasure until faced with betrayal, his world collapses and he heads home, unsure if he can start again. Penniless and facing a lifetime working at the mill, everyone has their breaking point - has he reached his? Confronted with temptation, will he overcome his demons or allow them to consume him? Bella finds the world exciting, but why do people play games with each other? Surely life would be simpler if everyone was open and honest... When Bella falls in love with a handsome stranger, her happiness is complete. But will her innocence and naivety be her downfall? Kate is clever and witty yet filled with vulnerabilities. With her heart broken, can she get off her path to self-destruction? Whatever her reasons for being reckless and selfish while longing for the unobtainable, things have to change. Can she do something worthwhile with her life? Many reach the edge of despair, but most come back from it. Will these three young people learn that the path ahead doesn't have to be clear - they just need to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving? Or will they give up fighting?
The Valley of Despair
Author: Chris L Adams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 104
Book Description
Lost in a savage Jungle...Having survived a terrific plane crash, Erik von Mendelsohn is forced to endure the terrors of a primitive world. Lost in a vast African jungle, he struggles against great odds just to stay alive, having no idea where lay the lines of friendly forces he was trying to reach before flying off course because of a malfunctioning compass.Soon, however, Erik discovers there are forces at work infinitely more dangerous than the savage jungle with which he has contended since abandoning his wrecked plane when he stumbles upon a mysterious, prehistoric city governed by the time-warp of a distant star whose grim, gray inhabitants condemn him to slavery.Forced into servitude for his new masters, and instructed in their tongue by a beautiful slave girl, the handsome German pilot begins plotting an escape. But is there an avenue of escape from this city of despair?This is a short story.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 104
Book Description
Lost in a savage Jungle...Having survived a terrific plane crash, Erik von Mendelsohn is forced to endure the terrors of a primitive world. Lost in a vast African jungle, he struggles against great odds just to stay alive, having no idea where lay the lines of friendly forces he was trying to reach before flying off course because of a malfunctioning compass.Soon, however, Erik discovers there are forces at work infinitely more dangerous than the savage jungle with which he has contended since abandoning his wrecked plane when he stumbles upon a mysterious, prehistoric city governed by the time-warp of a distant star whose grim, gray inhabitants condemn him to slavery.Forced into servitude for his new masters, and instructed in their tongue by a beautiful slave girl, the handsome German pilot begins plotting an escape. But is there an avenue of escape from this city of despair?This is a short story.
On the Heights of Despair
Author: E. M. Cioran
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226106717
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 154
Book Description
"Born of a terrible insomnia wchich E. M. Cioran called "a dizzying lucidity which would turn even paradise into hell," this book presents the youthful Cioran, a self-described "Nietzsche still complete with his Zarathustra, his poses, his mystical clown's tricks, a whole circus of the heights." On the Heights of Despair shows Cioran's first grappling with themes he would return to in his mature works: despair and decay, absurdity and alienation, futility and the irrationality of existence. It also presents Cioran as a connoisseur of apocalypse, a theoretician of despair, for whom writing and philosophy both share the "lyrical virtues" that alone lead to metaphysical revelations. An exorcism of despair, this book offers insights into the ironic anguish of Cioran's philosophic mind while providing fascinating information on his early development as a writer and thinker."
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226106717
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 154
Book Description
"Born of a terrible insomnia wchich E. M. Cioran called "a dizzying lucidity which would turn even paradise into hell," this book presents the youthful Cioran, a self-described "Nietzsche still complete with his Zarathustra, his poses, his mystical clown's tricks, a whole circus of the heights." On the Heights of Despair shows Cioran's first grappling with themes he would return to in his mature works: despair and decay, absurdity and alienation, futility and the irrationality of existence. It also presents Cioran as a connoisseur of apocalypse, a theoretician of despair, for whom writing and philosophy both share the "lyrical virtues" that alone lead to metaphysical revelations. An exorcism of despair, this book offers insights into the ironic anguish of Cioran's philosophic mind while providing fascinating information on his early development as a writer and thinker."
Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
Author: Anne Case
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691217068
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
A New York Times Bestseller A Wall Street Journal Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year A New Statesman Book to Read From economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, a groundbreaking account of how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America's working class Deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism are rising dramatically in the United States, claiming hundreds of thousands of American lives. Anne Case and Angus Deaton explain the overwhelming surge in these deaths and shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class. As the college educated become healthier and wealthier, adults without a degree are literally dying from pain and despair. Case and Deaton tie the crisis to the weakening position of labor, the growing power of corporations, and a rapacious health-care sector that redistributes working-class wages into the pockets of the wealthy. This critically important book paints a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline, and provides solutions that can rein in capitalism's excesses and make it work for everyone.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691217068
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 332
Book Description
A New York Times Bestseller A Wall Street Journal Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year A New Statesman Book to Read From economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, a groundbreaking account of how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America's working class Deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism are rising dramatically in the United States, claiming hundreds of thousands of American lives. Anne Case and Angus Deaton explain the overwhelming surge in these deaths and shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class. As the college educated become healthier and wealthier, adults without a degree are literally dying from pain and despair. Case and Deaton tie the crisis to the weakening position of labor, the growing power of corporations, and a rapacious health-care sector that redistributes working-class wages into the pockets of the wealthy. This critically important book paints a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline, and provides solutions that can rein in capitalism's excesses and make it work for everyone.
The Dragon of Despair
Author: Jane Lindskold
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780765341587
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 770
Book Description
Fantasy-roman.
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780765341587
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 770
Book Description
Fantasy-roman.
Desperate Enough to Win
Author: Laura Proctor
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 1449708811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 113
Book Description
Desperation, hopelessness, despair, depression, absolute brokenness--words with which Laura Proctor is intimately acquainted. This shocking, and incredibly inspiring, true story of the authors horrific nightmare about the abduction and murder of her nine-year-old daughter, Christie, left her utterly devastated. Miraculously, Laura discovered there is life after tragedy! The authors fervent prayer is that the reader who identifies with despair and hopelessness, will venture with her into a life completely restored. A life of victory: oppression forever broken and the entrance once again of joy. The same total healing is possible for all who are desperate enough to win.
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 1449708811
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 113
Book Description
Desperation, hopelessness, despair, depression, absolute brokenness--words with which Laura Proctor is intimately acquainted. This shocking, and incredibly inspiring, true story of the authors horrific nightmare about the abduction and murder of her nine-year-old daughter, Christie, left her utterly devastated. Miraculously, Laura discovered there is life after tragedy! The authors fervent prayer is that the reader who identifies with despair and hopelessness, will venture with her into a life completely restored. A life of victory: oppression forever broken and the entrance once again of joy. The same total healing is possible for all who are desperate enough to win.
Freedom and Destiny
Author: Rollo May
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393318425
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
The popular psychoanalyst examines the continuing tension in our lives between the possibilities that freedom offers and the various limitations imposed upon us by our particular fate or destiny. "May is an existential analyst who deservedly enjoys a reputation among both general and critical readers as an accessible and insightful social and psychological theorist. . . . Freedom's characteristics, fruits, and problems; destiny's reality; death; and therapy's place in the confrontation between freedom and destiny are examined. . . . Poets, social critics, artists, and other thinkers are invoked appropriately to support May's theory of freedom and destiny's interdependence."—Library Journal "Especially instructive, even stunning, is Dr. May's willingness to respect mystery. . . .There is, too, at work throughout the book a disciplined yet relaxed clinical mind, inclined to celebrate . . . what Flannery O'Connor called 'mystery and manners,' and to do so in a tactful, meditative manner."—Robert Coles, America
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393318425
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
The popular psychoanalyst examines the continuing tension in our lives between the possibilities that freedom offers and the various limitations imposed upon us by our particular fate or destiny. "May is an existential analyst who deservedly enjoys a reputation among both general and critical readers as an accessible and insightful social and psychological theorist. . . . Freedom's characteristics, fruits, and problems; destiny's reality; death; and therapy's place in the confrontation between freedom and destiny are examined. . . . Poets, social critics, artists, and other thinkers are invoked appropriately to support May's theory of freedom and destiny's interdependence."—Library Journal "Especially instructive, even stunning, is Dr. May's willingness to respect mystery. . . .There is, too, at work throughout the book a disciplined yet relaxed clinical mind, inclined to celebrate . . . what Flannery O'Connor called 'mystery and manners,' and to do so in a tactful, meditative manner."—Robert Coles, America
At the Edge of the Universe
Author: Shaun David Hutchinson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1481449680
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 348
Book Description
From the author of We Are the Ants comes “another winner” (Booklist, starred review) about a boy who believes the universe is slowly shrinking as the things he remembers are being erased from others’ memories. Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished. More accurately, he ceased to exist, erased from the minds and memories of everyone who knew him. Everyone except Ozzie. Ozzie doesn’t know how to navigate life without Tommy, and soon he suspects that something else is going on: that the universe is shrinking. When Ozzie is paired up with the reclusive and secretive Calvin for a physics project, it’s hard for him to deny the feelings developing between them, even if he still loves Tommy. But Ozzie knows there isn’t much time left to find Tommy—that once the door closes, it can’t be opened again. And he’s determined to keep it open as long as possible.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1481449680
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 348
Book Description
From the author of We Are the Ants comes “another winner” (Booklist, starred review) about a boy who believes the universe is slowly shrinking as the things he remembers are being erased from others’ memories. Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished. More accurately, he ceased to exist, erased from the minds and memories of everyone who knew him. Everyone except Ozzie. Ozzie doesn’t know how to navigate life without Tommy, and soon he suspects that something else is going on: that the universe is shrinking. When Ozzie is paired up with the reclusive and secretive Calvin for a physics project, it’s hard for him to deny the feelings developing between them, even if he still loves Tommy. But Ozzie knows there isn’t much time left to find Tommy—that once the door closes, it can’t be opened again. And he’s determined to keep it open as long as possible.
Girls at the Edge of the World
Author: Laura Brooke Robson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525554033
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
Set in a world on the edge of an apocalyptic flood, this heart-stoppingly romantic fantasy debut is perfect for fans of Rachel Hartman and Rae Carson. In a world bound for an epic flood, only a chosen few are guaranteed safe passage into the new world once the waters recede. The Kostrovian royal court will be saved, of course, along with their guards. But the fate of the court's Royal Flyers, a lauded fleet of aerial silk performers, is less certain. Hell-bent on survival, Principal Flyer, Natasha Koskinen, will do anything to save the flyers, who are the only family she's ever known. Even if "anything" means molding herself into the type of girl who could be courted by Prince Nikolai. But unbeknownst to Natasha, her newest recruit, Ella Neves, is driven less by her desire to survive the floods than her thirst for revenge. And Ella's mission could put everything Natasha has worked for in peril. As the oceans rise, so too does an undeniable spark between the two flyers. With the end of the world looming, and dark secrets about the Kostrovian court coming to light, Ella and Natasha can either give in to despair . . . or find a new reason to live.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525554033
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
Set in a world on the edge of an apocalyptic flood, this heart-stoppingly romantic fantasy debut is perfect for fans of Rachel Hartman and Rae Carson. In a world bound for an epic flood, only a chosen few are guaranteed safe passage into the new world once the waters recede. The Kostrovian royal court will be saved, of course, along with their guards. But the fate of the court's Royal Flyers, a lauded fleet of aerial silk performers, is less certain. Hell-bent on survival, Principal Flyer, Natasha Koskinen, will do anything to save the flyers, who are the only family she's ever known. Even if "anything" means molding herself into the type of girl who could be courted by Prince Nikolai. But unbeknownst to Natasha, her newest recruit, Ella Neves, is driven less by her desire to survive the floods than her thirst for revenge. And Ella's mission could put everything Natasha has worked for in peril. As the oceans rise, so too does an undeniable spark between the two flyers. With the end of the world looming, and dark secrets about the Kostrovian court coming to light, Ella and Natasha can either give in to despair . . . or find a new reason to live.