I thought I had made myself clear. I want something that conveys her majesty, her bloodline. Do you understand? She is no ordinary mortal.Treat her thus.'Florence, the 1560s. Lucrezia, third daughter of Cosimo de' Medici, is free to wander the palazzo at will, wondering at its treasures and observing its clandestine workings. But when her older sister dies on the eve of marriage to Alfonso d'Este, ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father to accept on her behalf.Having barely left girlhood, Lucrezia must now make her way in a troubled court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed.Perhaps most mystifying of all is her husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate her appears before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to
她是印度史詩《摩羅衍那》裡護駕有功的王妃，也是放逐皇子的惡毒繼母。這次，換她來說自己的故事。Vaishnavi Patel重磅出道作，以吉迦伊視角重述這位背負惡名的奇女子憑藉勇氣與韌性，抵抗命運洪流的不凡人生。Before she was cast as Indian mythology's most jealous queen, she had her own story....The only daughter of the kingdom of Kekaya, Kaikeyi is raised on stories about the might and benevolence of the gods: how they churned the vast ocean to obtain the nectar of immortality, how they vanquish evil and ensure the land of Bharath prospers, and how they offer the devout and the wise powerful boons. Yet she watches as her father unceremoniously banishes her mother, listens as her own worth is reduced to how great a marriage alliance she can secure. And when she calls upon the gods for help, they never seem to hear.Desperate for some measure of independence, she turns to the texts she once read with her mother and discovers a magic that is hers alone. With this power, Kaikeyi transforms herself from an overlooked princess into a warrior, diplomat, and most-favored queen, determined to carv
Agatha is aware of an intensity, a powerful storm of emotion briefly awakened by a short lived love affair with her cousin Gerald, that is entirely lacking from the successful marriage on which she is
'She only wished to prove to herself she was once more on a train going somewhere'A passionate, unfulfilled woman considers her life and her marriage in this moving novella by one of America's finest
THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER The Pulitzer Prize-winning, Booker-longlisted, bestselling author returns to her beloved heroine Lucy Barton in a luminous novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any point in lifeLucy Barton is a successful writer living in New York, navigating the second half of her life as a recent widow and parent to two adult daughters. A surprise encounter leads her to reconnect with William, her first husband - and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante. Recalling their college years, the birth of theirdaughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people, Strout weaves a portrait, stunning in its subtlety, of a tender, complex, decades-long partnership.Oh William! captures the joy and sorrow of watching children grow up and start families of their own; of discovering family secrets, late in life, that alter everything we think we know about those closest to us; and
An abusive marriage, a divorce and the subsequent emotional, mental and social fallout forced Geetanjali Pandit to question all her assumptions about romance and relationships.Buddha in Love distils all she learnt. We are not born relationship-ready; they take work-- and contrary to what you might expect, on yourself. What does it take to be in a loving relationship? Do all relationships look the same? Does a relationship equate to happiness? Why and when should you marry?In this vulnerable narrative, Geetanjali takes her story as a starting point to answer all these stories. Featuring conversations with Gautam and based on the Buddha's teachings, Buddha in Love is infused with the real-life experiences of others and anchored in practical wisdom.This unique book will gently guide you through the terrain of love.
她敏銳地洞察，並精準捕捉了日常生活裡稍縱即逝的瑣碎片刻，時而溫柔，時而尖銳。收錄沃利策1960至1970年代，陸續刊登於雜誌上的經典短篇，及一則全新故事。普立茲小說獎得主，《生活是頭安靜的獸》伊麗莎白斯特勞特為本書撰寫序言。A TIME 'New Books You Should Read'A People magazine 'Book of the Week'A New York Times Editors' ChoiceWith a foreword by Elizabeth Strout‘Electric: with wit, with rage, with grief, with the kind of prose that makes you both laugh and thrill to the darker, spikier emotions just barely visible under the bright surface. What a wonderful collection of stories’ Lauren GroffAnother day! And then another and another and another. It seemed as if it would all go on forever in that exquisitely boring and beautiful way. But of course it wouldn’t; everyone knows that.In this collection, Hilma Wolitzer invites us inside the private world of domestic bliss, seen mostly through the lens of Paulie and Howard’s gloriously ordinary marriage. From hasty weddings to meddlesome neighbours, ex-wives who just won’t leave, to sleepless nights spent worrying about unanswered chainmail, Wolitzer captu
The Beautiful and Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, tells the story of Anthony Patch, a 1920s socialite and presumptive heir to a tycoon's fortune. Anthony and his wife Gloria are young and gorgeous, rich and leisured, and dedicate their lives to the reckless pursuit of happiness.But this intimate story turns tragic, as their marriage disintegrates under the weight of their expectations, dissipation, jealousy and aimlessness. Fitzgerald skilfully portrays the east-coast elite as the Jazz Age begins its ascent, engulfing all classes into what will soon be known as Cafe Society. As with all of Fitzgerald's novels, it is a brilliant character study written in breathtaking prose.It is also a gripping account of the complexities of marriage, largely based on Fitzgerald's relationship with his wife, Zelda. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition features an afterword by Ned Halley. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gi
A satirical, tragicomic story about a man on the edge from actor and comedian Miles Jupp. For readers of Jonathan Coe, Mark Watson, Michael Frayn and David Nicholls. Clive Hapgood is feeling stuck.The private school he teaches at is consuming his life, no thanks to wretched headteacher Julian Crouch. The gentle country life Clive envisaged has stifled him and left his marriage on the brink. What he needs is a holiday - something to remind him and Helen what life used to be like.But when things don't go to plan, and an incident at school begins to weigh heavy on his head, Clive's life starts to unravel in front of him. Has he got it in him to turn things around, whatever the cost? After all, it's his own time he's wasting...
A Paperback Original—Also Available as a Hardcover Library EditionIn this sharply observed novel set in and around London, three college friends, now in their thirties, must come to terms with the gap between the lives they imagined for themselves and reality in the face of marriage, fertility struggles, and loss.In her first year of motherhood after an unplanned pregnancy, Cate is constantly exhausted, spiraling into self-doubt and postpartum anxiety. Her husband Sam seems oblivious, but maybe she’d prefer he remain in the dark. How can she admit the unthinkable—that she misses her freedom?In contrast, Hannah continues to endure round after round of unsuccessful IVF treatments. The process is taking its toll on her physically and emotionally—and, she worries, creating distance between her and her husband Nathan. She is godmother to Cate’s son, but every time they get together, it’s a trigger.Beautiful and unattached, Lissa is re-evaluating what it means to be an actress in her thirtie
The first novel in nearly twenty years from the acclaimed actor/writer/director is a book about art and love, fame and heartbreak--a blistering story of a young man making his Broadway debut in Henry IV just as his marriage implodes. A bracing meditation on fame and celebrity, and the redemptive, healing power of art; a portrait of the ravages of disappointment and divorce; a poignant consideration of the rites of fatherhood and manhood; a novel soaked in rage and sex, longing and despair; and a passionate love letter to the world of theater, A Bright Ray of Darkness showcases Ethan Hawke's gifts as a novelist as never before. Hawke's narrator is a young man in torment, disgusted with himself after the collapse of his marriage, still half hoping for a reconciliation that would allow him to forgive himself and move on as he clumsily, and sometimes hilariously, tries to manage the wreckage of his personal life with whiskey and sex. What saves him is theater: in particular, the challenge
A once-respected college professor and novelist, Dale Stewart has sabotaged his career and his marriage -- and now darkness is closing in on him. In the last hours of Halloween he has returned to the
Sexuality Counseling: Theory, Research, and Practice is a core text for courses on sexuality counseling or sex therapy found in many counseling programs, particularly marriage and family therapy progr
