![]() ![]() People continued to filter in for another thirty minutes. It was a half size too small, but she had on her black velvet suit jacket, so it looked fine. It was a distressed blue T-shirt with a vintage-looking Wonder Woman logo emblazoned over her breasts. Trish had planned everything down to her shirt-a great find at Goodwill. Timing an ambush of one of the wealthiest men on the planet required precision. She was as ready as she was ever going to be. She wished she could afford a cell phone-then she could at least play with that until the talk started instead of being the only person in the room who wasn’t connected. She’d gotten here early enough that no one had seen her smuggle in the check. Trish had been sitting in her spot-end of the third row, to the left of the podium on the stage-for over an hour. ![]() No billionaire would risk looking heartless by saying no to a charity in front of a big crowd. A good crowd would leverage some social pressure on her target. Maybe four hundred people had crowded into the lower level and, in addition to the journalists from the college paper, some reporters from the San Francisco television stations were in attendance. The auditorium was filling up, which was exactly what Trish wanted. ![]()
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Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In the wake of her parents’ death, Aretha, a habitually single Black lawyer, has had only one obsession in life-success-until she falls for Aaron, a coffee entrepreneur. “A great and engrossing read, Kashana humanizes a way of life that is often made fun of and makes the reader understand why someone would go to such great lengths to prepare for the future, so much so she almost sold me on those Life Preserver soy bars!” -Trevor NoahĪ single Black lawyer puts her career and personal moral code at risk when she moves in with her coffee entrepreneur boyfriend and his doomsday-prepping roommates in a novel that's packed with tension, curiosity, humor, and wit from a writer with serious comedy credentials ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As this book starts, she is still recovering from both the physical and psychological aftermath of this horrific treatment, with the help of her friends and her boyfriend the vampire Eric Northman. The previous books are all reviewed here earlier on the Diabolical Plots feed.Īt the end of the last book, Dead and Gone, Sookie was tortured at the hands of two fairies that were part of the opposing faction of the short-lived but brutal fairy war. Dead in the Family is a romance/mystery/horror novel from 2010, the tenth in the Sookie Stackhouse series of novels by Charlaine Harris (which is the basis of the HBO show True Blood). ![]() ![]() ![]() The teens all find solace, purpose and camaraderie-as well as a healthy bit of mischief-in each other's company.īut their travels soon bring them into the orbit of Queen Isabella herself, whose plans to re-seize power in Jerusalem would only guarantee further war and strife in the Holy Land for years to come. On their journey to Jerusalem, Rahma and Zeena come across a motley collection of fellow travelers-including a kind-hearted Mongolian warrior, an eccentric Andalusian scientist, a frustratingly handsome spy with a connection to Rahma's childhood, and an unfortunate English chaplain abandoned behind enemy lines. ![]() And so, Rahma has no choice but to take on one final mission with her sister. ![]() Rahma al-Hud loyally followed her elder sister Zeena into the war over the Holy Land, but now that the Faranji invaders have gotten reinforcements from Richard the Lionheart, all she wants to do is get herself and her sister home alive.īut Zeena, a soldier of honor at heart, refuses to give up the fight while Jerusalem remains in danger of falling back into the hands of the false Queen Isabella. This thrilling female-led Robin Hood remix reframes the legend’s tales of the Third Crusade from a Muslim perspective, rewriting its origin’s male and overwhelmingly white Euro-centric narrative. In the Remixed Classics series, authors from marginalized backgrounds reinterpret classic works through their own cultural lens to subvert the overwhelming cishet, white, and male canon. Winner of the 2022 Middle East Book Award in Youth Literature ![]() ![]() ![]() The author goes deep inside, with depth into the thoughts, and motives, of the well developed characters he creates in the novel. Desjarlais provides an in-depth glimpse into the historical details of daily life, education, as well as religious beliefs. This novel is both entertaining as well as informative. ![]() For those who are vaguely familiar with Saint Patrick through fables and religious anecdotes, this book will be an eye opening experience. The fast paced narrative of this historical novel follows the trials and challenges, both spiritual and worldly of the well known historical and religious figure. ![]() Unlike the dry accounts from traditional biographies or history textbooks, this author actually recreates the life of Saint Patrick for the modern reader with new life. John Desjarlais, captures the life of Saint Patrick with a new level of authenticity, and realism to draw in the contemporary reader. ![]() ![]() I was pretty sure her crazy wasn’t an act, but her clueless definitely was. She was rocking back on her heels and looking at the sky, with the gun still in her hands and pointing at the car. If she had, it didn’t seem to have bothered her. ![]() “You heard the lady, gang,” I said, hoping the Fox hadn’t heard that. I bet the Cat’s going to be thrilled to see you!”īehind me, I heard Becks mutter, “Only if she’s got a really good idea for ways to skin people alive.” “Oh, sure.” The Fox smiled, taking two short hop-steps back from the van. Can we come inside and talk about what happens next?” ![]() “Foxy, we’ve finished the errand we agreed to do. I broke in before George could say anything else. In her scrambled little head, it probably was. And then I’ll probably do it, because she makes the best cookies, and I don’t like remembering that I used to be someone who was sad.” The Fox said this as if it were entirely reasonable. “Oh, because if you ask it where the Cat can hear you, she’ll tell me I should shoot you in the head a couple of times to teach you not to pry. I wouldn’t ask that question again, if I were you.” ![]() I used to be called Elaine, and everything was boring, and I was sad all the time. “Me?” The Fox blinked at her, then cocked her head. She was better at maintaining a neutral expression when her eyes couldn’t give her away. ![]() ![]() ![]() We also feature two other classic books by writers best known through their writing for children. And it being a Christmas episode, there is a fiendish festive quiz. We discuss why this might be the case and much more besides and even hear from Miss Streatfeild herself. It has been adapted many times both as an audiobook and for film and television and in 2019 BBC News included Ballet Shoes on its list of the 100 most influential novels of all time. ![]() It has never been out of print and was the first in a series of ‘Shoes’ books by Streatfeild. ![]() Ballet Shoes was an immediate bestseller upon publication and the runner-up for the inaugural Carnegie Medal. ![]() We are joined by the writer Una McCormack and Tanya Kirk, the Lead Curator of Printed Heritage Collections (1601-1900) at the British Library, who are both lifetime Streatfeild fans. Merry Christmas Everyone! This year’s Backlisted Christmas special celebrates Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, a classic of children’s literature and the childhood favourite of our producer, Nicky Birch. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() She also annihilated all who stood against her by establishing a bloody religious Inquisition that would darken Spain's reputation for centuries. ![]() She sponsored Columbus's trip to the Indies and negotiated Spanish control over much of the New World with the help of Rodrigo Borgia, the infamous Pope Alexander VI. She laid the foundation for a unified Spain. She ended a twenty-four-generation struggle between Muslims and Christians, forcing North African invaders back over the Mediterranean Sea. In 1474, when most women were almost powerless, twenty-three-year-old Isabella defied a hostile brother and a mercurial husband to seize control of Castile and León. An engrossing and revolutionary biography of Isabella of Castile, the controversial Queen of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World, established the Spanish Inquisition, and became one of the most influential female rulers in historyīorn at a time when Christianity was dying out and the Ottoman Empire was aggressively expanding, Isabella was inspired in her youth by tales of Joan of Arc, a devout young woman who unified her people and led them to victory against foreign invaders. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Nana Mori in Tenki no ko (2019) © 2019 WYFP During an enjoyable warm day, Hina passed through a magical pathway that will change her life forever. Both literally and figuratively speaking. ![]() Despite all the tears and heartbreak, there’s also a little bit of sunshine in Hina’s life. She sits beside her bed every day of the week, and the young girl’s future seems very uncertain. Hina ( Nana Mori) is going through a very difficult time as her mother is ill. Her wonderful and unique story is now being told in a beautiful, blissful and gorgeously made film by writer/director Makoto Shinkai (“Your Name” (2016), “The Garden of Words” (2013)) We might not have that power but Hina Amano from “Weathering with You” (2019) definitely has it. Whether it’s to have sunshine on your wedding day, to enjoy the heating sun on your birthday or to get snow when you’re about to go on a ski trip. There are days in which we’ve wished we could influence the weather. Year: 2019 Runtime: 114 Minutes Director: Makoto Shinkai Writer: Makoto Shinkai Stars: Kotaro Daigo, Nana Mori, Sei Hiraizumi By Liselotte Vanophem ![]() |