Author: Kathy Izard
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 0785220011
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
What if you just trusted the whisper of calling placed on your heart? Kathy Izard was volunteering at Charlotte’s Urban Ministry Center when an unlikely meeting with a homeless man changed the course of her life. She realized that serving at the soup kitchen was feeding her soul, but not actually solving the needs of the homeless population. Rather than brush it off and avoid what she now felt called to take on, she quit her job and took on what seemed like an insurmountable task—building housing for Charlotte’s homeless. Woven together with this uplifting story of social action is Kathy’s personal struggle with faith, forgiveness and fulfillment. In telling her story, Kathy invites you to consider rewriting your own. What’s calling you? As crazy at it seems, it may be crazier not to try. This book will push you to do so much more than you ever thought possible.
The Hundred Story Home
Author: Kathy Izard
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 0785220011
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
What if you just trusted the whisper of calling placed on your heart? Kathy Izard was volunteering at Charlotte’s Urban Ministry Center when an unlikely meeting with a homeless man changed the course of her life. She realized that serving at the soup kitchen was feeding her soul, but not actually solving the needs of the homeless population. Rather than brush it off and avoid what she now felt called to take on, she quit her job and took on what seemed like an insurmountable task—building housing for Charlotte’s homeless. Woven together with this uplifting story of social action is Kathy’s personal struggle with faith, forgiveness and fulfillment. In telling her story, Kathy invites you to consider rewriting your own. What’s calling you? As crazy at it seems, it may be crazier not to try. This book will push you to do so much more than you ever thought possible.
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 0785220011
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
What if you just trusted the whisper of calling placed on your heart? Kathy Izard was volunteering at Charlotte’s Urban Ministry Center when an unlikely meeting with a homeless man changed the course of her life. She realized that serving at the soup kitchen was feeding her soul, but not actually solving the needs of the homeless population. Rather than brush it off and avoid what she now felt called to take on, she quit her job and took on what seemed like an insurmountable task—building housing for Charlotte’s homeless. Woven together with this uplifting story of social action is Kathy’s personal struggle with faith, forgiveness and fulfillment. In telling her story, Kathy invites you to consider rewriting your own. What’s calling you? As crazy at it seems, it may be crazier not to try. This book will push you to do so much more than you ever thought possible.
The Hundred-Year House
Author: Rebecca Makkai
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143127446
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 370
Book Description
From the acclaimed author of The Great Believers, an original, mordantly witty novel about the secrets of an old-money family and their turn-of-the-century estate, Laurelfield. Meet the Devohrs: Zee, a Marxist literary scholar who detests her parents’ wealth but nevertheless finds herself living in their carriage house; Gracie, her mother, who claims she can tell your lot in life by looking at your teeth; and Bruce, her step-father, stockpiling supplies for the Y2K apocalypse and perpetually late for his tee time. Then there’s Violet Devohr, Zee’s great-grandmother, who they say took her own life somewhere in the vast house, and whose massive oil portrait still hangs in the dining room. Violet’s portrait was known to terrify the artists who resided at the house from the 1920s to the 1950s, when it served as the Laurelfield Arts Colony—and this is exactly the period Zee’s husband, Doug, is interested in. An out-of-work academic whose only hope of a future position is securing a book deal, Doug is stalled on his biography of the poet Edwin Parfitt, once in residence at the colony. All he needs to get the book back on track—besides some motivation and self-esteem—is access to the colony records, rotting away in the attic for decades. But when Doug begins to poke around where he shouldn’t, he finds Gracie guards the files with a strange ferocity, raising questions about what she might be hiding. The secrets of the hundred-year house would turn everything Doug and Zee think they know about her family on its head—that is, if they were to ever uncover them. In this brilliantly conceived, ambitious, and deeply rewarding novel, Rebecca Makkai unfolds a generational saga in reverse, leading the reader back in time on a literary scavenger hunt as we seek to uncover the truth about these strange people and this mysterious house. With intelligence and humor, a daring narrative approach, and a lovingly satirical voice, Rebecca Makkai has crafted an unforgettable novel about family, fate and the incredible surprises life can offer. For readers of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143127446
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 370
Book Description
From the acclaimed author of The Great Believers, an original, mordantly witty novel about the secrets of an old-money family and their turn-of-the-century estate, Laurelfield. Meet the Devohrs: Zee, a Marxist literary scholar who detests her parents’ wealth but nevertheless finds herself living in their carriage house; Gracie, her mother, who claims she can tell your lot in life by looking at your teeth; and Bruce, her step-father, stockpiling supplies for the Y2K apocalypse and perpetually late for his tee time. Then there’s Violet Devohr, Zee’s great-grandmother, who they say took her own life somewhere in the vast house, and whose massive oil portrait still hangs in the dining room. Violet’s portrait was known to terrify the artists who resided at the house from the 1920s to the 1950s, when it served as the Laurelfield Arts Colony—and this is exactly the period Zee’s husband, Doug, is interested in. An out-of-work academic whose only hope of a future position is securing a book deal, Doug is stalled on his biography of the poet Edwin Parfitt, once in residence at the colony. All he needs to get the book back on track—besides some motivation and self-esteem—is access to the colony records, rotting away in the attic for decades. But when Doug begins to poke around where he shouldn’t, he finds Gracie guards the files with a strange ferocity, raising questions about what she might be hiding. The secrets of the hundred-year house would turn everything Doug and Zee think they know about her family on its head—that is, if they were to ever uncover them. In this brilliantly conceived, ambitious, and deeply rewarding novel, Rebecca Makkai unfolds a generational saga in reverse, leading the reader back in time on a literary scavenger hunt as we seek to uncover the truth about these strange people and this mysterious house. With intelligence and humor, a daring narrative approach, and a lovingly satirical voice, Rebecca Makkai has crafted an unforgettable novel about family, fate and the incredible surprises life can offer. For readers of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle
The Hundred Penny Box
Author: Sharon Bell Mathis
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 014240702X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 50
Book Description
Michael loves his great-great-aunt Dew, even if she can't always remember his name. He especially loves to spend time with her and her beloved hundred penny box, listening to stories about each of the hundred years of her life. Michael's mother wants to throw out the battered old box that holds the pennies, but Michael understands that the box itself is as important to Aunt Dew as the memories it contains. Winner of a Newbery Honor, this beautiful story will be available in a collector's edition featuring heavy interior stock embossing and silver ink on the cover, and a thread-sewn binding for added durability. A timeless story of the relationship between a boy and his elderly relative, this new edition is one that families young and old will treasure for years to come.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 014240702X
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 50
Book Description
Michael loves his great-great-aunt Dew, even if she can't always remember his name. He especially loves to spend time with her and her beloved hundred penny box, listening to stories about each of the hundred years of her life. Michael's mother wants to throw out the battered old box that holds the pennies, but Michael understands that the box itself is as important to Aunt Dew as the memories it contains. Winner of a Newbery Honor, this beautiful story will be available in a collector's edition featuring heavy interior stock embossing and silver ink on the cover, and a thread-sewn binding for added durability. A timeless story of the relationship between a boy and his elderly relative, this new edition is one that families young and old will treasure for years to come.
The House of a Hundred Whispers
Author: Graham Masterton
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1789544238
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 333
Book Description
'God, it's good' STEPHEN KING On a windswept moor, an old house guards its secrets... The new standalone horror novel from 'a true master of horror.' All Hallows Hall is a rambling Tudor mansion on the edge of the bleak and misty Dartmoor. It is not a place many would choose to live. Yet the former Governer of Dartmoor Prison did just that. Now he's dead, and his children – long estranged – are set to inherit his estate. But when the dead man's family come to stay, the atmosphere of the moors seems to drift into every room. Floorboards creak, secret passageways echo, and wind whistles in the house's famous priest hole. And then, on the same morning the family decide to leave All Hallows Hall and never come back, their young son Timmy disappears – from inside the house. Does evil linger in the walls? Or is evil only ever found inside the minds of men? Praise for Graham Masterton: 'A true master of horror' James Herbert 'One of the most original and frightening storytellers of our time' Peter James 'A natural storyteller with a unique gift for turning the mundane into the terrifyingly real' New York Journal of Books 'This is a first-class thriller with some juicy horror touches. Mystery readers who don't know the Maguire novels should change that right now' Booklist 'One of Britain's finest horror writers' Daily Mail
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1789544238
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 333
Book Description
'God, it's good' STEPHEN KING On a windswept moor, an old house guards its secrets... The new standalone horror novel from 'a true master of horror.' All Hallows Hall is a rambling Tudor mansion on the edge of the bleak and misty Dartmoor. It is not a place many would choose to live. Yet the former Governer of Dartmoor Prison did just that. Now he's dead, and his children – long estranged – are set to inherit his estate. But when the dead man's family come to stay, the atmosphere of the moors seems to drift into every room. Floorboards creak, secret passageways echo, and wind whistles in the house's famous priest hole. And then, on the same morning the family decide to leave All Hallows Hall and never come back, their young son Timmy disappears – from inside the house. Does evil linger in the walls? Or is evil only ever found inside the minds of men? Praise for Graham Masterton: 'A true master of horror' James Herbert 'One of the most original and frightening storytellers of our time' Peter James 'A natural storyteller with a unique gift for turning the mundane into the terrifyingly real' New York Journal of Books 'This is a first-class thriller with some juicy horror touches. Mystery readers who don't know the Maguire novels should change that right now' Booklist 'One of Britain's finest horror writers' Daily Mail
A Hundred Days from Home
Author: Randall Wright
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1627795618
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 121
Book Description
An adolescent boy struggles with the loss of one friendship and the flowering of a new one. The mouth of the basin had washed away so that the pool had emptied with the runoff from the storm, but the tree still stood, now taller than Elam, the center of a sandy bowl. Elam's mouth dropped open in surprise. Irises had shot up, crowding the edges of the bowl, their green, spear-like leaves reaching toward the sun. And they were in full bloom, their blues and purples reflecting the depth of the sky overhead. "It's . . . it's not possible," he said. "It's not." "It's magic," whispered Refúgio. Elam loves the wilderness of the mountains where he lives. He doesn't want to move to the Arizona desert, but his father thinks he needs a change. Ever since his best friend drowned in a river accident, Elam has been a loner. After the move Elam explores the desert alone, unwilling to befriend the neighboring kids. The dry brown earth makes him long for the lush green of home. But in the parched landscape he discovers something unexpected: a river where no water should be. There he meets Refúgio, who also seems to be a loner. Drawn together by a shared love of wildlife, the two forge a tentative friendship. Slowly Elam begins to let go of the guilt and pain from his friend's death, and of his longing to return to the mountains. Randall Wright's stunning first novel is a beautiful and deeply moving exploration of the aftermath of loss and the healing power of nature.
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1627795618
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 121
Book Description
An adolescent boy struggles with the loss of one friendship and the flowering of a new one. The mouth of the basin had washed away so that the pool had emptied with the runoff from the storm, but the tree still stood, now taller than Elam, the center of a sandy bowl. Elam's mouth dropped open in surprise. Irises had shot up, crowding the edges of the bowl, their green, spear-like leaves reaching toward the sun. And they were in full bloom, their blues and purples reflecting the depth of the sky overhead. "It's . . . it's not possible," he said. "It's not." "It's magic," whispered Refúgio. Elam loves the wilderness of the mountains where he lives. He doesn't want to move to the Arizona desert, but his father thinks he needs a change. Ever since his best friend drowned in a river accident, Elam has been a loner. After the move Elam explores the desert alone, unwilling to befriend the neighboring kids. The dry brown earth makes him long for the lush green of home. But in the parched landscape he discovers something unexpected: a river where no water should be. There he meets Refúgio, who also seems to be a loner. Drawn together by a shared love of wildlife, the two forge a tentative friendship. Slowly Elam begins to let go of the guilt and pain from his friend's death, and of his longing to return to the mountains. Randall Wright's stunning first novel is a beautiful and deeply moving exploration of the aftermath of loss and the healing power of nature.
The Hundred Dresses
Author: Eleanor Estes
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780152052607
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
Eleanor Estes's The Hundred Dresses won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn't and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it's too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda's classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again." This powerful, timeless story has been reissued with a new letter from the author's daughter Helena Estes, and with the Caldecott artist Louis Slobodkin's original artwork in beautifully restored color.
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780152052607
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 100
Book Description
Eleanor Estes's The Hundred Dresses won a Newbery Honor in 1945 and has never been out of print since. At the heart of the story is Wanda Petronski, a Polish girl in a Connecticut school who is ridiculed by her classmates for wearing the same faded blue dress every day. Wanda claims she has one hundred dresses at home, but everyone knows she doesn't and bullies her mercilessly. The class feels terrible when Wanda is pulled out of the school, but by that time it's too late for apologies. Maddie, one of Wanda's classmates, ultimately decides that she is "never going to stand by and say nothing again." This powerful, timeless story has been reissued with a new letter from the author's daughter Helena Estes, and with the Caldecott artist Louis Slobodkin's original artwork in beautifully restored color.
The House of One Hundred Clocks
Author: A.M. Howell
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1474984282
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
From the bestselling author of The Garden of Lost Secrets comes a thrilling new mystery filled with ticking secrets and gripping adventure, set against an Edwardian backdrop of invention and change. JUNE, 1905. Helena and her parrot, Orbit, are swept off to Cambridge when her father is appointed clock-winder to one of the wealthiest men in England. There is only one rule: the clocks must never stop. Soon Helena discovers the house of one hundred clocks holds many mysteries; a ghostly figure, strange notes and stolen winding keys... Can she work out the house's secrets before time runs out? "Howell is a hypnotically readable writer, who keeps the pulse racing, while allowing every character slowly to unravel." The Telegraph "Fans of Emma Carroll will adore this historical tale of derring-do and righted wrongs." The Times on The Garden of Lost Secrets
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
ISBN: 1474984282
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 230
Book Description
From the bestselling author of The Garden of Lost Secrets comes a thrilling new mystery filled with ticking secrets and gripping adventure, set against an Edwardian backdrop of invention and change. JUNE, 1905. Helena and her parrot, Orbit, are swept off to Cambridge when her father is appointed clock-winder to one of the wealthiest men in England. There is only one rule: the clocks must never stop. Soon Helena discovers the house of one hundred clocks holds many mysteries; a ghostly figure, strange notes and stolen winding keys... Can she work out the house's secrets before time runs out? "Howell is a hypnotically readable writer, who keeps the pulse racing, while allowing every character slowly to unravel." The Telegraph "Fans of Emma Carroll will adore this historical tale of derring-do and righted wrongs." The Times on The Garden of Lost Secrets
The House by the Lake: the Story of a Home and a Hundred Years of History
Author: Thomas Harding
Publisher: Walker Studio
ISBN: 9781406385557
Category : Dwellings
Languages : en
Pages : 39
Book Description
A beautiful picture-book adaptation of Thomas Harding's Costa-shortlisted biography for adults, exquisitely illustrated by Britta Teckentrup.On the outskirts of Berlin, a wooden cottage stands on the shore of a lake. Over the course of a century, this little house played host to a loving Jewish family, a renowned Nazi composer, wartime refugees and a Stasi informant; in that time, a world war came and went, and the Berlin Wall was built a stone's throw from the cottage's back door. Thomas Harding first shared this remarkable story in his Costa-shortlisted biography The House by the Lake - now he has rendered it into a deeply moving picture-book for young readers. With words that read like a haunting fairy-tale, and magnificent artwork by Britta Teckentrup, this is the astonishing true story of the house by the lake. PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL BIOGRAPHY OF THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE: A Radio 4 Book of the Week Named a Best Book of the Year by: The Times ” New Statesman ” Daily Express ” Commonweal magazine Shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award 2015 Longlisted for the Orwell Prize 2016 Over 50 five-star reviews on Amazon "A passionate memoir." - Neil MacGregor "A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families. A remarkable book." - Tom Holland "A book that will stay with me for a very long time." - Rachel Joyce "A superb work of social history." - The Sunday Times "Diamond brilliant ... an extraordinary book." - Sunday Express "A deft history of a cabin containing many secrets." - Independent "A fascinating window on a tumultuous period" - Financial Times "Original, personal, moving and uplifting" - Literary Review "This is a history that is often poignant, sometimes heartening, and never other than intimate." - Spectator "An extraordinary book.... Harding has extracted the past from the dust that collects between floorboards and from layers of peeling wallpaper." - Washington PostSEE ALSO THOMAS HARDING'S NEW BIOGRAPHY, LEGACY:"I was riveted: this is a fascinating social history." - Nigella Lawson"Written with love and imagination ... a masterclass in historical empathy." - TLS"Nobody quite stirs the soup of historical detail like Harding." - Express
Publisher: Walker Studio
ISBN: 9781406385557
Category : Dwellings
Languages : en
Pages : 39
Book Description
A beautiful picture-book adaptation of Thomas Harding's Costa-shortlisted biography for adults, exquisitely illustrated by Britta Teckentrup.On the outskirts of Berlin, a wooden cottage stands on the shore of a lake. Over the course of a century, this little house played host to a loving Jewish family, a renowned Nazi composer, wartime refugees and a Stasi informant; in that time, a world war came and went, and the Berlin Wall was built a stone's throw from the cottage's back door. Thomas Harding first shared this remarkable story in his Costa-shortlisted biography The House by the Lake - now he has rendered it into a deeply moving picture-book for young readers. With words that read like a haunting fairy-tale, and magnificent artwork by Britta Teckentrup, this is the astonishing true story of the house by the lake. PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL BIOGRAPHY OF THE HOUSE BY THE LAKE: A Radio 4 Book of the Week Named a Best Book of the Year by: The Times ” New Statesman ” Daily Express ” Commonweal magazine Shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award 2015 Longlisted for the Orwell Prize 2016 Over 50 five-star reviews on Amazon "A passionate memoir." - Neil MacGregor "A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families. A remarkable book." - Tom Holland "A book that will stay with me for a very long time." - Rachel Joyce "A superb work of social history." - The Sunday Times "Diamond brilliant ... an extraordinary book." - Sunday Express "A deft history of a cabin containing many secrets." - Independent "A fascinating window on a tumultuous period" - Financial Times "Original, personal, moving and uplifting" - Literary Review "This is a history that is often poignant, sometimes heartening, and never other than intimate." - Spectator "An extraordinary book.... Harding has extracted the past from the dust that collects between floorboards and from layers of peeling wallpaper." - Washington PostSEE ALSO THOMAS HARDING'S NEW BIOGRAPHY, LEGACY:"I was riveted: this is a fascinating social history." - Nigella Lawson"Written with love and imagination ... a masterclass in historical empathy." - TLS"Nobody quite stirs the soup of historical detail like Harding." - Express
At Home in the World
Author: Joyce Maynard
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1429977558
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 395
Book Description
New York Times bestselling author of Labor Day With a New Preface When it was first published in 1998, At Home in the World set off a furor in the literary world and beyond. Joyce Maynard's memoir broke a silence concerning her relationship—at age eighteen—with J.D. Salinger, the famously reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye, then age fifty-three, who had read a story she wrote for The New York Times in her freshman year of college and sent her a letter that changed her life. Reviewers called her book "shameless" and "powerful" and its author was simultaneously reviled and cheered. With what some have viewed as shocking honesty, Maynard explores her coming of age in an alcoholic family, her mother's dream to mold her into a writer, her self-imposed exile from the world of her peers when she left Yale to live with Salinger, and her struggle to reclaim her sense of self in the crushing aftermath of his dismissal of her not long after her nineteenth birthday. A quarter of a century later—having become a writer, survived the end of her marriage and the deaths of her parents, and with an eighteen-year-old daughter of her own—Maynard pays a visit to the man who broke her heart. The story she tells—of the girl she was and the woman she became—is at once devastating, inspiring, and triumphant.
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1429977558
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 395
Book Description
New York Times bestselling author of Labor Day With a New Preface When it was first published in 1998, At Home in the World set off a furor in the literary world and beyond. Joyce Maynard's memoir broke a silence concerning her relationship—at age eighteen—with J.D. Salinger, the famously reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye, then age fifty-three, who had read a story she wrote for The New York Times in her freshman year of college and sent her a letter that changed her life. Reviewers called her book "shameless" and "powerful" and its author was simultaneously reviled and cheered. With what some have viewed as shocking honesty, Maynard explores her coming of age in an alcoholic family, her mother's dream to mold her into a writer, her self-imposed exile from the world of her peers when she left Yale to live with Salinger, and her struggle to reclaim her sense of self in the crushing aftermath of his dismissal of her not long after her nineteenth birthday. A quarter of a century later—having become a writer, survived the end of her marriage and the deaths of her parents, and with an eighteen-year-old daughter of her own—Maynard pays a visit to the man who broke her heart. The story she tells—of the girl she was and the woman she became—is at once devastating, inspiring, and triumphant.
The House of Broken Angels
Author: Luis Alberto Urrea
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1529359317
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
'Epic . . . Rambunctious . . . Highly entertaining' New York Times 'All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death.' In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader. Among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life. Across two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighbourhood, the revellers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother, and recounting the many inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home. Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels is Luis Alberto Urrea at his best, and cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank.
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1529359317
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 255
Book Description
'Epic . . . Rambunctious . . . Highly entertaining' New York Times 'All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death.' In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader. Among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life. Across two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighbourhood, the revellers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother, and recounting the many inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home. Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels is Luis Alberto Urrea at his best, and cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank.