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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > General
An astonishingly brave and moving book from Caroline Darian, daughter of infamous Dominique Pelicot, detailing how her mother rebuilt her life as the world follows a trial that will go down in history. The trial of Dominique Pelicot, which began on 2 September 2024, has captured the world's attention. Behind the haunting details of Pelicot's unthinkable crimes are a mother and daughter who were forced to rebuild their lives. This is their story. In November 2020, Caroline Darian received a call from the police in Carpentras. Her father was in police custody. The seizure of his computer equipment revealed the unthinkable: since 2013, he had drugged his wife before handing her over, in a state of unconsciousness, to men, from all ages and stages of life. With exceptional courage, Darian recounts the earth-shattering discovery that a loved one, her own father, is capable of the worst. But more importantly, she shares the remarkable story of her mother Gisèle and how she carried on living, without self-pity, while learning to manage all of the things her husband once took care of. She shares how her mother managed to maintain her joie de vivre in circumstances none of us could imagine. Gisèle has won acclaim around the world after she gave up her right to anonymity and opted for a public trial, a trial in which Caroline herself has testified, turning the tables: the shame no longer borne by the victims in silence but directed, at last, to the abusers. Together, mother and daughter reveal another side to the violence committed against women, as they bravely transform their private trauma into a collective fight.
A quest is never what you expect it to be. Elizabeth Madeline Martin spends her days in a retirement home in Cape Town, watching the pigeons and squirrels on the branch of a tree outside her window. Bedridden, her memory fading, she can recall her early childhood spent in a small wood-and-iron house in Blackridge on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg. Though she remembers the place in detail – dogs, a mango tree, a stream – she has no idea of where exactly it is. ‘My memory is full of blotches,’ she tells her daughter Julia, ‘like ink left about and knocked over.’ Julia resolves to find the Blackridge house: with her mother lonely and confused, would this, perhaps, bring some measure of closure? A journey begins that traverses family history, forgotten documents, old photographs, and the maps that stake out a country’s troubled past – maps whose boundaries nature remains determined to resist. Kind strangers, willing to assist in the search, lead to unexpected discoveries of ancestors and wars and lullabies. Folded into this quest are the tender conversations between a daughter and a mother who does not have long to live. Taken as one, The Blackridge House is a meditation on belonging, of the stories we tell of home and family, of the precarious footprint of life.
Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations in the Spanish Civil War.
Duduza. Bopha. Imbiza. Phapha. Asixoliseni. Amapopeye . . . What is the power of a single word? Six days a week, advertising creative Melusi Tshabalala posts a Zulu word on his Everyday Zulu Facebook page and tells a story about it. His off-beat sense of humour, razor-sharp social observations and frank political commentary not only teaches his followers isiZulu but also offer insight into the world Melusi inhabits as a 21st century Zulu man. Over the past few months he has built up a big and a loyal following that include radio host Jenny Crwys-Williams and Afrikaans author Marita van der Vyfer. He pokes fun at our differences and makes us laugh at ourselves and each other. Melusi asks critical questions of everyone, from Aunty Helen, Dudu-Zille to Silili (Cyril Ramaphosa) and even Woolworths (why are their aircons always set on ‘jou moer’?). His fans love him for his honesty and commitment to pointing out subtle and overt forms of prejudice and racism. Melusi’s Everyday Zulu holds up a mirror that shows South African society in all its flaws and its sheer humanity. Most importantly, he shows the power of words and that there’s umzulu in all of us!
Imagine what it would be like to walk in freedom, to break through past pain and trauma, to become whole and healed? What if your broken marriage could find strength for tomorrow, hope and healing like never before? Lucy shares her own broken journey, traveling through the pain and trauma of some of life's most difficult trials - persevering through sexual and verbal abuse, bullying, chronic illness and pain, a marriage torn apart, a life and death diagnosis, and even terrifying natural disasters. This book was written for those who are seeking to become whole again, longing for restoration and clarity, ready to break free and find healing. Is this you? What do you do with your broken heart? Through Lucy's story, you will discover hope and witness the healing power of God's love through Jesus that she experienced exploring her own broken road and path to restoration. Lucy set out to write her story, isolated in the woods at her cabin, when a forest fire broke out. The fire raged closer and closer as she alternated between fire updates and her writing. Who knew this was supposed to be about the past and the here and now? God knew...he had a plan. After a terrifying night with the wind howling and shaking the windows, the smell of smoke filling the house, she was evacuated with the fire just a half mile away. The title to the book emerged; Through the Fire, Traveling the Broken Road to Hope and Healing. Let Lucy's inspiring story open your heart and eyes to the healing power of grace and redemption through walking hand in hand with Christ. Rejoice with Lucy at the healing and wholeness found in Him alone. In Him all is made new, in Him nothing is impossible, in Him we find healing and wholeness.
Each year brings a glut of new memoirs, ranging from works by former teachers and celebrity has-beens to disillusioned soldiers and bestselling novelists. In addition to becoming bestsellers in their own right, memoirs have become a popular object of inquiry in the academy and a mainstay in most MFA workshops. Courses in what is now called life-writing study memoir alongside personal essays, diaries, and autobiographies. Memoir: An Introduction proffers a concise history of the genre (and its many subgenres) while taking readers through the various techniques, themes, and debates that have come to characterize the ubiquitous literary form. Its fictional origins are traced to eighteenth-century British novels like Robinson Crusoe and Tom Jones; its early American roots are examined in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography and eighteenth-century captivity narratives; and its ethical conundrums are considered with analyses of the imbroglios brought on by the questionable claims in Rigoberta Menchu's I, Rigoberta, and more notoriously, James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Alongside these more traditional literary forms, Couser expands the discussion of memoir to include film with what he calls "documemoir" (exemplified in Nathaniel Kahn's My Architect), and graphic narratives like Art Spiegleman's Maus. In sum, Memoir: An Introduction provides a succinct and comprehensive survey to today's most popular form of life-writing.
Former Secret Service Special Agent Evy Poumpouras shares the insights
and skills from one of the oldest elite security forces in the world -
to help you prepare for stressful situations, instantly read people,
influence how you're perceived, and live a more fearless life.
Strapped into an American Dream captures America, whirling readers along a 35,000-mile trek through the 48 contiguous states in a rebuilt RV. Glenn Maynard brings this journey to all armchair travelers who will love the adrenaline rush. One week after their wedding, Glenn and his wife quit their jobs, sold their cars, and set out to find America. This book details how they were able to realize this dream, and then introduces the reader to the unique people they met and the places they visited along the path. Travel with them through 23 National Parks, Las Vegas, Mardi Gras, and dusty ghost towns. Feel the rushing wind of tornadoes and the rocking of an earthquake. Sleep on roadsides and in truck stops, shifting from state to state, risking danger in favor of a limited bank account. It is the dream of many Americans, in all walks of life, to travel the country, but few realize this dream. Now they may do so vicariously in the reading of these adventures. Laugh along the way. Share the terror, sorrow, and humor -- strapped into an American dream. Glenn Maynard has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Connecticut, and a degree in Communications. After spending 4 years living in Denver, Colorado, he returned home to Connecticut and now resides in Wethersfield. He has a 9 year-old son named Andrew. He was a travel correspondent for three newspapers while traveling through the United States, Canada and Mexico during his one-year journey. He had a total of twenty newspaper articles published. His story was captured on the evening newscast upon his return.
The runaway international bestseller is now an American must-read for lovers of adventure, travel writing, and romance. Corinne Hofmann tells how she falls in love with an African warrior while on holiday in Kenya. After overcoming severe obstacles, she moves into a tiny hut with him and his mother, and spends four years in his Kenyan village. Slowly but surely, the dream starts to crumble, and she hatches a plan to return home with her daughter, a baby born of the seemingly indestructible love between a white European woman and a Masai. Compulsively readable, "The White Masai" is at once a hopelessly romantic love story, a gripping adventure yarn, and a fine piece of meticulously observed social anthropology.
A charming, moving account of one man's race to save a herd of elephants. When South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony was asked to accept a herd of 'rogue' elephants on his Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand, his common sense told him to refuse. But he was the herd's last chance of survival - dangerous and unpredictable, they would be killed if Anthony wouldn't take them in. As Anthony risked his life to create a bond with the troubled elephants and persuade them to stay on his reserve, he came to realize what a special family they were, from the wise matriarch Nana, who guided the herd, to her warrior sister Frankie, always ready to see off any threat, and their children who fought so hard to survive. With unforgettable characters and exotic wildlife, this is an enthralling book that will appeal to animal lovers and adventurous souls everywhere.
In Running from the Shadows Stephanie Hickey tells, in her own words, how she survived abuse at the hands of a trusted family member and of how running, a simple physical activity helped her achieve mindfulness, but also to rediscover love and faith in her body - to reclaim it. Charting her life growing up in the rolling countryside of Waterford in the safety of her beloved family to the moment her childhood was shattered, to the court case where she waived her anonymity, to how she was able to reclaim a sense of herself through the sport which became like a therapy, Running from the Shadows is told with humour, strength and incredible courage -- a book that reveals how, even when things seem at their bleakest, a run through the Irish countryside, can bring you back into the light.
This action-packed true story begins as a privileged boy is born in Hong Kong. He is the son of a Danish "Taipan," whose family has links with the Far East going back generations. The book chronicles John Jessen's early life in Hong Kong and his travels throughout Asia, just before WWII broke out and one of his father's ships was captured by Chinese pirates. After the death of his young brother in the Red Sea, 9-year-old Jessen left his grandparents in Switzerland to travel alone through Hitler's Germany and on to Russia, where he boarded the Trans-Siberian Express to Manchuria. His Japanese train was attacked by communist guerillas before he reached Shanghai, to join his parents. Jessen witnessed the brutal Japanese occupation there, offering a rare glimpse of Shanghai by a Dane. The post-war years in crime-riddled Shanghai picture the black market, rampant inflation, flirtations with Chinese concubines, a visit to a luxurious brothel and horror tales from survivors of Japanese prison camps. In his turbulent, hair-raising life, Jessen worked in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Denmark, throughout Central and South America, Switzerland, North Africa, the entire Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, the United States, Belgium and Spain, as he worked for IOS and a major U.S. financial group. Jessen says, "In this day of electronic mail, nobody will come across faded letters buried in attics to bring the past alive. Come with me, let me share with you a kaleidoscope of recent history." Publisher's website: http://www.eloquentbooks.com/OnlyTreesNeedRoots.html |
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