Author: Adrian Fogelin
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1497694426
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
This poignant coming-of-age story is set against the verdant landscape and sultry atmosphere of the Florida Keys Ben Floyd has a lot on his mind. In only eighteen months he will be old enough to get a learner’s permit to drive, but that seems a lifetime away. Ben enjoys the close-knit group of friends in his small neighborhood, but lately he has been longing for a taste of adventure. Keeping an eye on his younger brother Cody is getting to be a big responsibility. And he is confused by complicated feelings he has for his lifelong friend, Cass. An unexpected turn of events finds the Floyd family in the Florida Keys over Christmas vacation and offers Ben a welcome opportunity to escape the neighborhood routine. Here he meets Mica, an independent, strong-willed girl who lives a nomadic life aboard a boat with her marine biologist father. Mica teaches Ben and Cody to fish, sail, and snorkel, and together they explore the interior canals and coastal waterways. But Ben soon realizes that adventure sometimes brings danger, and that at the center of Mica’s seemingly charmed life lies a mysterious loneliness. Young readers will relate to Ben’s conflicting feelings and growing restlessness as they experience this realistic, thoughtful, and sometimes humorous portrait of adolescence by award-winning author Adrian Fogelin.
My Brother's Hero
Author: Adrian Fogelin
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1497694426
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
This poignant coming-of-age story is set against the verdant landscape and sultry atmosphere of the Florida Keys Ben Floyd has a lot on his mind. In only eighteen months he will be old enough to get a learner’s permit to drive, but that seems a lifetime away. Ben enjoys the close-knit group of friends in his small neighborhood, but lately he has been longing for a taste of adventure. Keeping an eye on his younger brother Cody is getting to be a big responsibility. And he is confused by complicated feelings he has for his lifelong friend, Cass. An unexpected turn of events finds the Floyd family in the Florida Keys over Christmas vacation and offers Ben a welcome opportunity to escape the neighborhood routine. Here he meets Mica, an independent, strong-willed girl who lives a nomadic life aboard a boat with her marine biologist father. Mica teaches Ben and Cody to fish, sail, and snorkel, and together they explore the interior canals and coastal waterways. But Ben soon realizes that adventure sometimes brings danger, and that at the center of Mica’s seemingly charmed life lies a mysterious loneliness. Young readers will relate to Ben’s conflicting feelings and growing restlessness as they experience this realistic, thoughtful, and sometimes humorous portrait of adolescence by award-winning author Adrian Fogelin.
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1497694426
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
This poignant coming-of-age story is set against the verdant landscape and sultry atmosphere of the Florida Keys Ben Floyd has a lot on his mind. In only eighteen months he will be old enough to get a learner’s permit to drive, but that seems a lifetime away. Ben enjoys the close-knit group of friends in his small neighborhood, but lately he has been longing for a taste of adventure. Keeping an eye on his younger brother Cody is getting to be a big responsibility. And he is confused by complicated feelings he has for his lifelong friend, Cass. An unexpected turn of events finds the Floyd family in the Florida Keys over Christmas vacation and offers Ben a welcome opportunity to escape the neighborhood routine. Here he meets Mica, an independent, strong-willed girl who lives a nomadic life aboard a boat with her marine biologist father. Mica teaches Ben and Cody to fish, sail, and snorkel, and together they explore the interior canals and coastal waterways. But Ben soon realizes that adventure sometimes brings danger, and that at the center of Mica’s seemingly charmed life lies a mysterious loneliness. Young readers will relate to Ben’s conflicting feelings and growing restlessness as they experience this realistic, thoughtful, and sometimes humorous portrait of adolescence by award-winning author Adrian Fogelin.
My Hero
Author: Julie Capulet
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
He's broken. He's beautiful. He's a bastard. And he's mine. Caleb McCabe just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He's shell-shocked. Loud noises make him jump. He feels like an outcast in civilian society. When Caleb meets a gorgeous, fun-loving redhead named Violet, he knows he can't handle a relationship, especially with a golden girl like her. But that doesn't stop him from thinking about her day and night. Violet Jameson is studying for a degree in psychology. When she meets the ultra-hot combat hero Caleb, she's riveted not only by his rugged good looks but also by his obvious vulnerabilities. She yearns to get close to him, and to begin to heal him. They share a night of passion that's so hot she realizes she's not only in lust but in love. For Violet's sake, Caleb tries to stay away. He wants her more than he can bear, but he's afraid of hurting her with his own emotional scars. The problem is, no matter how much he fights his obsession, he can't stop himself. He has to make her his. He knows in his heart she's the one. Caleb and Violet are meant for each other, but will his dark damages get in the way of their Happily Ever After? My Hero is Book #2 in the McCabe Brothers series and is a sexy standalone novella starring a battle-scarred alpha hero and the sweet, sassy redhead who changes everything.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
He's broken. He's beautiful. He's a bastard. And he's mine. Caleb McCabe just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He's shell-shocked. Loud noises make him jump. He feels like an outcast in civilian society. When Caleb meets a gorgeous, fun-loving redhead named Violet, he knows he can't handle a relationship, especially with a golden girl like her. But that doesn't stop him from thinking about her day and night. Violet Jameson is studying for a degree in psychology. When she meets the ultra-hot combat hero Caleb, she's riveted not only by his rugged good looks but also by his obvious vulnerabilities. She yearns to get close to him, and to begin to heal him. They share a night of passion that's so hot she realizes she's not only in lust but in love. For Violet's sake, Caleb tries to stay away. He wants her more than he can bear, but he's afraid of hurting her with his own emotional scars. The problem is, no matter how much he fights his obsession, he can't stop himself. He has to make her his. He knows in his heart she's the one. Caleb and Violet are meant for each other, but will his dark damages get in the way of their Happily Ever After? My Hero is Book #2 in the McCabe Brothers series and is a sexy standalone novella starring a battle-scarred alpha hero and the sweet, sassy redhead who changes everything.
My Brother
Author: Jamaica Kincaid
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1466828862
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
Jamaica Kincaid's brother Devon Drew died of AIDS on January 19, 1996, at the age of thirty-three. Kincaid's incantatory, poetic, and often shockingly frank recounting of her brother's life and death is also a story of her family on the island of Antigua, a constellation centered on the powerful, sometimes threatening figure of the writer's mother. My Brother is an unblinking record of a life that ended too early, and it speaks volumes about the difficult truths at the heart of all families. My Brother is a 1997 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 1466828862
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 216
Book Description
Jamaica Kincaid's brother Devon Drew died of AIDS on January 19, 1996, at the age of thirty-three. Kincaid's incantatory, poetic, and often shockingly frank recounting of her brother's life and death is also a story of her family on the island of Antigua, a constellation centered on the powerful, sometimes threatening figure of the writer's mother. My Brother is an unblinking record of a life that ended too early, and it speaks volumes about the difficult truths at the heart of all families. My Brother is a 1997 National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction.
My Brother Is a Superhero
Author: David Solomons
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0147516056
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
The award-winning #1 international bestseller that's perfect for fans of The Last Kids on Earth and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Luke Parker was just your average comic book fan until his boring, teacher’s pet, helps-old-ladies-across-the-street brother Zack got turned into a superhero. Luke can’t believe the unfairness of it all—he’s the one with the encyclopedic knowledge of everything from Ant-Man to Wolverine! At least he can help Zack—aka Star Guy—with all the important parts of becoming a superhero, like using his newfound powers and deciding whether or not to wear a cape. But when Star Guy gets into super-size trouble, it’s up to Luke—and his intrepid neighbor, Lara—to rescue his big brother and, with a little luck, help him save the world. * “A non-stop action-packed, laugh-out-loud winner of a story.” —School Library Journal, starred review “A loving tribute to the genre consumed with capes, masks, supervillains, and great responsibility.” —Kirkus Reviews "Readers will enjoy the deadpan narration that reveals the unexpected difficulties of being a modern-day superhero.” —Publishers Weekly
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0147516056
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
The award-winning #1 international bestseller that's perfect for fans of The Last Kids on Earth and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Luke Parker was just your average comic book fan until his boring, teacher’s pet, helps-old-ladies-across-the-street brother Zack got turned into a superhero. Luke can’t believe the unfairness of it all—he’s the one with the encyclopedic knowledge of everything from Ant-Man to Wolverine! At least he can help Zack—aka Star Guy—with all the important parts of becoming a superhero, like using his newfound powers and deciding whether or not to wear a cape. But when Star Guy gets into super-size trouble, it’s up to Luke—and his intrepid neighbor, Lara—to rescue his big brother and, with a little luck, help him save the world. * “A non-stop action-packed, laugh-out-loud winner of a story.” —School Library Journal, starred review “A loving tribute to the genre consumed with capes, masks, supervillains, and great responsibility.” —Kirkus Reviews "Readers will enjoy the deadpan narration that reveals the unexpected difficulties of being a modern-day superhero.” —Publishers Weekly
Hero
Author: Lauren Rowe
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781951315641
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
A standalone contemporary romance in the MORGAN BROTHERS SERIES from USA Today Bestselling Author Lauren Rowe. The story of firefighter Colby Morgan that proves heroes come in many forms . . .The first time I laid eyes on Lydia Decker, I couldn't speak. Or breathe. Or string two coherent thoughts together. And I don't mean any of that figuratively. I'm not talking about a guy being floored by the sight of a gorgeous woman-although, of course, Lydia is gorgeous beyond words. No, when I first laid eyes on Lydia Decker-my physical therapist-I was lying flat on my back in the ICU, high as a kite on painkillers, breathing on a ventilator, my bones as broken and splintered as my spirit. When I first laid eyes on Lydia Decker, she was a ray of light in the dark. Hope for the hopeless. A salve for my singed and battered soul.She said she'd been assigned to fix me. That she was there to bring me back to life. She said helping me was her calling. And then she touched me. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. She healed me. And I fell in love.But what I didn't know . . . what I couldn't possibly know . . . was that Lydia Decker needed fixing far more than I ever did.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781951315641
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
A standalone contemporary romance in the MORGAN BROTHERS SERIES from USA Today Bestselling Author Lauren Rowe. The story of firefighter Colby Morgan that proves heroes come in many forms . . .The first time I laid eyes on Lydia Decker, I couldn't speak. Or breathe. Or string two coherent thoughts together. And I don't mean any of that figuratively. I'm not talking about a guy being floored by the sight of a gorgeous woman-although, of course, Lydia is gorgeous beyond words. No, when I first laid eyes on Lydia Decker-my physical therapist-I was lying flat on my back in the ICU, high as a kite on painkillers, breathing on a ventilator, my bones as broken and splintered as my spirit. When I first laid eyes on Lydia Decker, she was a ray of light in the dark. Hope for the hopeless. A salve for my singed and battered soul.She said she'd been assigned to fix me. That she was there to bring me back to life. She said helping me was her calling. And then she touched me. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. She healed me. And I fell in love.But what I didn't know . . . what I couldn't possibly know . . . was that Lydia Decker needed fixing far more than I ever did.
Brave Like My Brother
Author: Marc Tyler Nobleman
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545880378
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 64
Book Description
The action of WWII comes alive in this chapter book through American soldier Joe's letters home to his younger brother, Charlie! When Charlie's brother, Joe, is called up to fight in World War II, he promises to write letters to ten-year-old Charlie as often as he can. It won't make up for not being there to help Charlie out with the neighborhood bullies, but it's all Joe can do. Life is tough for a soldier, and Joe tells Charlie all about it, from long hikes in endless rain and mud to the stray dog his company adopts. But when Joe is sent on a secret mission with the one soldier he can't stand, he will have to face risks that place their mission -- and their lives -- in grave danger. Charlie knew his brother was strong, but he will discover that Joe is more of a hero than he lets on. Will Joe's letters give Charlie the strength to stand up for himself and be brave, too?
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545880378
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 64
Book Description
The action of WWII comes alive in this chapter book through American soldier Joe's letters home to his younger brother, Charlie! When Charlie's brother, Joe, is called up to fight in World War II, he promises to write letters to ten-year-old Charlie as often as he can. It won't make up for not being there to help Charlie out with the neighborhood bullies, but it's all Joe can do. Life is tough for a soldier, and Joe tells Charlie all about it, from long hikes in endless rain and mud to the stray dog his company adopts. But when Joe is sent on a secret mission with the one soldier he can't stand, he will have to face risks that place their mission -- and their lives -- in grave danger. Charlie knew his brother was strong, but he will discover that Joe is more of a hero than he lets on. Will Joe's letters give Charlie the strength to stand up for himself and be brave, too?
My Brother's Bodyguard
Author: G. L. Snodgrass
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781977946911
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
***A Sweet Young Adult Romance*** The ultimate bad boy and the school's good girl. Elle is cursed with a genius younger brother. A brother who has absolutely no idea of the problems he will face as a thirteen year old senior. Desperate to protect him, she reluctantly asks the school's new bad boy, Nate Clark, for help. Unfortunately, the only way this will work is if everyone believes Nate cares enough for her to get involved. he last thing Nate Clark ever expected was to get close to someone like Elle Watson. Girl's like her should know better. But he'd learned long ago, when a chance like this came along. Seize it, and figure out the details later.
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781977946911
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
***A Sweet Young Adult Romance*** The ultimate bad boy and the school's good girl. Elle is cursed with a genius younger brother. A brother who has absolutely no idea of the problems he will face as a thirteen year old senior. Desperate to protect him, she reluctantly asks the school's new bad boy, Nate Clark, for help. Unfortunately, the only way this will work is if everyone believes Nate cares enough for her to get involved. he last thing Nate Clark ever expected was to get close to someone like Elle Watson. Girl's like her should know better. But he'd learned long ago, when a chance like this came along. Seize it, and figure out the details later.
My Brother's Secret
Author: Dan Smith
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545771609
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
A fascinating new perspective on World War II; a fictitious, personalized take on the real-life rebel German youth group, the Edelweiss Pirates. Karl Friedman is only twelve, but like all boys his age in Germany, he's already playing war games, training to join the Hitler Youth. Stefan, Karl's nonconformist older brother, wants nothing to do with it. Then their father is killed, and what had been a game suddenly becomes deadly serious. Karl's faith in the Fuhrer is shaken: Is Hitler a national hero--or a villain? What is the meaning of the flower symbol stitched inside Stefan's jacket, and what is the mission of the shadow group he belongs to? Karl soon finds out as he joins his brother in a dangerous rebellion against the burgeoning threat of Nazism.
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
ISBN: 0545771609
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
A fascinating new perspective on World War II; a fictitious, personalized take on the real-life rebel German youth group, the Edelweiss Pirates. Karl Friedman is only twelve, but like all boys his age in Germany, he's already playing war games, training to join the Hitler Youth. Stefan, Karl's nonconformist older brother, wants nothing to do with it. Then their father is killed, and what had been a game suddenly becomes deadly serious. Karl's faith in the Fuhrer is shaken: Is Hitler a national hero--or a villain? What is the meaning of the flower symbol stitched inside Stefan's jacket, and what is the mission of the shadow group he belongs to? Karl soon finds out as he joins his brother in a dangerous rebellion against the burgeoning threat of Nazism.
My Brother, The King
Author: Jubilee Lipsey
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781737344711
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 588
Book Description
Still reeling from his father's break with the God of Israel, Prince Jonathan is in line to inherit a throne that has already been stripped from his family. The young shepherd David is the man after God's own heart, chosen to take Jonathan's place. Carrying a secret anointing that won't stay hidden, David yearns to fight alongside his childhood hero rather than against him, but his calling threatens both their lives at every turn. Instead of fighting to the death over a crown that can't belong to both of them, the two young warriors forsake rivalry and pledge themselves to a friendship forged in the passionate pursuit of the God who called them-both. Walk alongside two Biblical heroes as they embrace the will of God through a selfless covenant that would withstand the brutal tests of family jealousy and war-a friendship that would change history.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781737344711
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 588
Book Description
Still reeling from his father's break with the God of Israel, Prince Jonathan is in line to inherit a throne that has already been stripped from his family. The young shepherd David is the man after God's own heart, chosen to take Jonathan's place. Carrying a secret anointing that won't stay hidden, David yearns to fight alongside his childhood hero rather than against him, but his calling threatens both their lives at every turn. Instead of fighting to the death over a crown that can't belong to both of them, the two young warriors forsake rivalry and pledge themselves to a friendship forged in the passionate pursuit of the God who called them-both. Walk alongside two Biblical heroes as they embrace the will of God through a selfless covenant that would withstand the brutal tests of family jealousy and war-a friendship that would change history.
I Know This Much Is True
Author: Wally Lamb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780060391621
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 884
Book Description
With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780060391621
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 884
Book Description
With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.