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Epistolary fiction

  • Author:
    Kellaway, Lucy
    Summary:

    A compulsively readable, hilarious novel told through the e-mail messages of Martin Lukes. Martin Lukes is a man who is good at taking credit where it isn't due; a man who works hard at 'personal growth' but consistently lets down everyone aound him; a man who communicates with his son by e-mail and fails to notice how smart his wife, Jenny really is; a man - in short - who loves jargon but totally lacks understanding.

  • Author:
    Gilman, Charlotte Perkins
    Summary:

    Presented in the first person, the story is a collection of journal entries written by a woman whose physician husband (John) has rented an old mansion for the summer and the couple moves into the upstairs nursery. As a form of treatment, she is forbidden from working, but encouraged to eat well and get plenty of exercise and air, so she can recuperate from what he calls a temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency, a diagnosis common to women in that period. She hides her journal from her husband and his sister the housekeeper, fearful of being reproached for overworking herself. With nothing to stimulate her, she becomes obsessed by the pattern and color of the wallpaper, descending slowly into psychosis.

  • Author:
    Burroughs, William S.
    Summary:

    In January 1953, William S. Burroughs began an expedition into the jungles of South America to find yage, the fabled hallucinogen of the Amazon. From the notebooks he kept and the letters he wrote home to Allen Ginsberg, Burroughs composed a narrative of his adventures that later appeared as The Yage Letters. For this edition, Oliver Harris has gone back to the original manuscripts and untangled the history of the text, telling the fascinating story of its genesis and cultural importance. Also included in this edition are extensive materials, never before published, by both Burroughs and Ginsberg. William S. Burroughs is widely recognized as one of the most influential and innovative writers of the twentieth century. His books include Junky, Naked Lunch, and The Wild Boys.

  • Author:
    Delany, Sheila, Maréchal, Sylvain
    Summary:

    “My God! Pardon me if I have dared to make sacred things serve a profane love; but it is you who have put passion into our hearts; they are not crimes—I feel this in the purity of my intentions.” —Agatha, writing to Zoé In pre-revolutionary Paris, a young woman falls for a handsome young priest. To be near him, she dresses as a man, enters his seminary, and is invited to become a fully ordained Catholic priest—a career forbidden to women then as now. Sylvain Maréchal’s epistolary novella offers a biting rebuke to religious institutions and a hypocritical society; its views on love, marriage, class, and virtue remain relevant today. The book ends in La Nouvelle France, which became part of British-run Canada during Maréchal’s lifetime. With thorough notes and introduction by Sheila Delany, this first translation of Maréchal’s novella, La femme abbé, brings a little-known but revelatory text to the attention of readers interested in French history and literature, history of the novel, women’s studies, and religious studies.

  • Author:
    Delany, Sheila
    Summary:

    In pre-revolutionary Paris, a young woman falls for a handsome young priest. To be near him, she dresses as a man, enters his seminary, and is invited to become a fully ordained Catholic priest, a career forbidden to women then as now. Sylvain Maréchal's epistolary novella offers a biting rebuke to religious institutions and a hypocritical society; its views on love, marriage, class, and virtue remain relevant today. The book ends in la Nouvelle France, which had become part of Canada during Maréchal's lifetime. With thorough notes and introduction by Sheila Delany, this first translation of Maréchal's novella, La femme abbé, brings a little-known but revelatory text to the attention of readers interested in French history and literature, history of the novel, women's studies, and religious studies.

  • Author:
    Grace, Amanda
    Summary:

    Smart girls aren’t supposed to do stupid things. On her first day at Green River Community College, Madelyn Hawkins meets Bennett Cartwright, her biology professor. He’s funny. He’s interested. And he has no idea that Madelyn is only sixteen. When they’re together, Madelyn feels more alive than she’s ever felt before. And she knows Bennett feels the same way. She also knows that if she tells him her real age, their relationship will be over. So Madelyn makes a simple decision. She won’t tell him. Praise: "Grace... treats delicate issues with honesty and control." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

  • Author:
    Berg, Elizabeth
    Summary:

    Disturbed by the course of her life and marriage, Nan embarks on a backroad odyssey, following the moon and stopping to talk with women, men, her husband through letters, and herself through her diary.

  • Author:
    Clavelle, Karen
    Summary:

    The Mother Goose Letters comprises the annotated correspondence between Mother Goose and her cohorts in Britain concerning migration to the Canadian Prairies. The letters reveal both her attempts to wheedle her fellow nursery rhyme characters to settle in the Prairies with her and their mixed responses to her plans. Responding to a cease and desist command from No. 10 Downing St., M. Goose categorically makes her case for the out-migration and re-migration of her stories. She supposes they will continue to live if she gives them leave to change as time, place, and experience dictate. She is, after all, a runaway Mother Goose. In print for the first time, The Mother Goose Letters presents scrupulously collated research in the form of hitherto unseen letters and previously unknown revisions of the best-known Mother Goose nursery rhymes and fairy tales. These collected works are used as the framework whereby a story of modern day immigration can be told.

  • Author:
    Wouk, Herman
    Summary:

    Margo Solovei, a brilliant young writer-director has rejected her rabbinical father's strict Jewish upbringing to pursue a career in the arts. When an Australian multi-billionaire promises to finance a movie about Moses if the script meets certain standards, Margo does everything she can to land the job, including a reunion with her estranged first love, an influential lawyer with whom she still has unfinished business.

  • Author:
    Kingsolver, Barbara
    Summary:

    An American youth in 1930s Mexico City, Harrison Shepherd works for artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera and their houseguest, Russian exile Lev Trotsky. Returning to the United States, Shepherd becomes a bestselling author, but his past associations raise suspicions during McCarthy's Communist witch hunt. Some strong language. Bestseller. 2009.

  • Author:
    Shaffer, Mary Ann.
    Summary:

    "I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers." January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she's never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends--and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society--born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island--boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society's members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

  • Author:
    Walker, Alice
    Summary:

    As a young, black woman living in 1930s Georgia, Celie faces constant violence and oppression. She survives the brutality of incest before being married off to "Mr.," who routinely abuses her both physically and emotionally. Eventually, Celie develops a deep bond with her husband's mistress Shug, and it is through this relationship that she understands she is a woman capable of being loved and respected.

  • Author:
    Dubé, Peter
    Summary:

    What lurks in the shadow of the 99%? Montreal is gearing up for the World Economic Forum. On one side are those preparing to welcome the policymakers and moneylenders alike; on the other are groups ready to protest the evils of capitalism and globalization. Caught in the middle is Lee Atwater, who is tasked with investigating a string of bizarre incidents connected to the Economic Forum. His journey introduces him to "the disaffected but affectionate": groups like CARP (Coalition Against Rapacious Profiteering); The Mals, who fetishize style to protect their substance; and The Band, worshippers of conflict and violence in the purest sense. The more time Lee spends with these remarkable and frightening people, the more his own seemingly directionless life comes into focus.

  • Author:
    Smith, Lee
    Summary:

    The heartwarming tale of three generations of women who record their lives in Christmas letters to the family.

  • Author:
    Coady, Lynn
    Summary:

    From bestselling novelist Lynn Coady comes an unforgettable, unflinching story of a life gone wrong.

  • Author:
    Twain, Mark
    Summary:

    When Mark Twain's daughter Susie wrote a letter to Santa Claus, her father wrote back, signing Santa's name. Charming and heartwarming, this version of the short letter was recorded as part of Dreamscape's Classic Christmas Stories: A Collection of Timeless Holiday Tales.

  • Author:
    Fontaine, Naomi
    Summary:

    Naomi Fontaine raconte à Shuni l'histoire du peuple innu avec amour, passion et dignité. Prix des collégiens 2020 Finaliste Prix Voix autochtones 2020 Finaliste Prix Une ville un livre (Ville de Québec) 2020 Résumé Naomi Fontaine écrit une longue lettre à Shuni, une Québécoise venue dans sa communauté pour aider les Innus. Elle convoque l'histoire. Surgissent les visages de la mère, du père, de la grand-mère. Elle en profite pour s'adresser à Petit ours, son fils. Les paysages de Uashat défilent, fragmentés, radieux. Elle raconte le doute qui mine le cœur des colonisés, l'impossible combat d'être soi. Shuni, cette lettre fragile et tendre, dit la force d'inventer l'avenir, la lumière de la vérité. La vie est un cercle où tout recommence. Extrait « Elle avait l'écoute facile. Le jugement absent. J'avais la parole continue. Nos rêves de gamines en commun. Elle n'avait jamais peur dans la forêt, même en pleine nuit. J'avais la certitude qu'elle me protégerait des ours parce qu'elle était la fille du pasteur et que ses prières seraient exaucées, contrairement aux miennes, moi, fille de personne. Lorsqu'elle est partie, on s'est promis de s'envoyer des lettres. Mais on ne s'est jamais écrit. On avait peu à se dire, tout compte fait. Des années plus tard, après ses études en travail social, j'ai appris qu'elle reviendrait à Uashat en tant que missionnaire. Seule cette fois-ci. C'est aujourd'hui que je décide de lui écrire. L'auteure Naomi Fontaine est innue de Uashat. Elle a publié Kuessipan en 2011 (Mémoire d'encrier). Adapté au cinéma par Max Films (sortie en salle le 4 octobre 2019), Kuessipan a connu un véritable succès. Son deuxième roman Manikanetish , publié en 2017 (Mémoire d'encrier), raconte son expérience d'enseignante à l'école Manikanetish et a été acclamé par la critique. Le roman est en développement chez ZONE3 pour une série télé à Radio-Canada. Shuni est son troisième récit.

  • Author:
    Estleman, Loren D.
    Summary:

    Judge Roy Bean is an infamous arbiter of Old West justice. For years, he writes admiring letters to British stage actress Lillie Langtry, and she occasionally responds. But just as they are about to meet face-to-face, fate intervenes and keeps this oddball romance from blooming.

  • Author:
    Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
    Summary:

    This book is a love letter and apology to the non-conventional woman from a man who was unable to go beyond society's notions of love and relationship to come together with her on equal terms. As he said he wanted to possess her and failed to understand that she wanted to be free.

  • Author:
    Fogel, Susanna
    Summary:

    Told entirely in letters to a heroine we never meet, Nuclear Family is a comedic novel about a fractured family of New England Jews and their discontents.

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