Craig Wright is one of the most widely produced, consistently entertaining playwrights of his generation. The three plays gathered in this volume--Melissa Arctic (winner of the 2005 Helen Hayes Award), Orange Flower Water, and The Pavilion--are all set in the fictional town of Pine City, Minnesota. The plays share a focus on love and relationships and feature a consistent undercurrent of observation and speculation about the nature of time. Melissa Arctic brings Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale into the present, retaining the original's captivating mix of the comic and tragic. A brutally frank exploration of marriage, Orange Flower Water examines the irresistible lure and poisonous effects of unrealistic expectations within love, and portrays the inescapably compromised contours of relationships founded on adultery. The Pavilion, a lyrical and rueful homage to Our Town, is a meditation on dashed dreams and unquenchable hopes, set at a twenty-year high school reunion. In all three plays, Wright shows himself to be one of the most perceptive and engaging playwrights working today.

Laura and Charlie Rider have been married for twelve years. They share their nursery business in rural Wisconsin, their love for their animals, and their zeal for storytelling. Although Charlie's enthusiasm in the bedroom has worn Laura out, although she no longer sleeps with him, they are happy enough going along in their routine.
Jenna Faroli is the host of a popular radio show, and in Laura's mind is "the single most famous person in the Town of Dover." When Jenna happens to cross Charlie's path one day, and they begin an e-mail correspondence, Laura cannot resist using Charlie to try out her new writing skills. Together, Laura and Charlie craft florid, strangely intimate messages that entice Jenna in an unexpected way. The "project" quickly spins out of control. The lines between Laura's words and Charlie's feelings are blurred and complicated, Jenna is transformed in ways that deeply disturb her, and Laura is transformed in her mind's eye into an artist. The transformations are hilarious and poignant, and for Laura Rider, beyond her wildest expectations.

Walter McCloud is a boy with dreams unlike most. Introduced as a child to the genius of Balanchine and the lyricism of Tchaikovsky, Walter has always aspired to be a dancer. As he grows older, it becomes clear that despite his desire, he lacks the talent, and he faces the painful knowledge that his more gifted friends have already surpassed him.

Soon, however, that pain is overshadowed when his older brother, Daniel, finds a strange lump on his neck and Walter realizes that a happy family can change overnight. The year that follows transforms the McClouds, as they try to hold together in the face of the fearful consequences of Daniel's illness, and Walter makes discoveries about himself and his friendships that will change him forever.

Decades later, after Walter has left home and returned, he must come to terms with the memories of that year, and grapple once and for all with the challenge of carving out a place for himself in this all-too-familiar world.

A moving story of the torments of sexuality and the redemptive power of family and friendship, The Short History of a Prince confirms Jane Hamilton's place as a preeminent novelist of our time.

From the author of the widely acclaimed The Book of Ruth comes a harrowing, heartbreaking drama about a rural American family and a disastrous event that forever changes their lives.

The Goodwins, Howard, Alice, and their little girls, Emma and Claire, live on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Although suspiciously regarded by their neighbors as "that hippie couple" because of their well-educated, urban background, Howard and Alice believe they have found a source of emotional strength in the farm, he tending the barn while Alice works as a nurse in the local elementary school.

But their peaceful life is shattered one day when a neighbor's two-year-old daughter drowns in the Goodwins' pond while under Alice's care. Tormented by the accident, Alice descends even further into darkness when she is accused of sexually abusing of a student at the elementary school. Soon, Alice is arrested, incarcerated, and as good as convicted in the eyes of a suspicious community. As a child, Alice designed her own map of the world to find her bearings. Now, as an adult, she must find her way again, through a maze of lies, doubt and ill will.

A vivid human drama of guilt and betrayal, A Map of the World chronicles the intricate geographies of the human heart and all its mysterious, uncharted terrain.  The result is a piercing drama about family bonds and a disappearing rural American life.

Title: Dr. Belton's Daughters. A novel.]Publisher: British Library, Historical Print EditionsThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It is one of the world's largest research libraries holding over 150 million items in all known languages and formats: books, journals, newspapers, sound recordings, patents, maps, stamps, prints and much more. Its collections include around 14 million books, along with substantial additional collections of manuscripts and historical items dating back as far as 300 BC.The FICTION & PROSE LITERATURE collection includes books from the British Library digitised by Microsoft. The collection provides readers with a perspective of the world from some of the 18th and 19th century's most talented writers. Written for a range of audiences, these works are a treasure for any curious reader looking to see the world through the eyes of ages past. Beyond the main body of works the collection also includes song-books, comedy, and works of satire. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library Hamilton, Catharine Jane; 1890.]. viii. 169 p.; 8 . 012631.e.74.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 38 THE DROPPED STITCHES. O'er rugged roads and mountain-steeps her pilgrimage pursued; Content, nay, glad, to toil and climb, though oftentimes oppressed, Since she was in the path that led to victory and rest. SITTING alone in the corner, In her own old easy-chair, With the firelight softly falling On her beautiful gray hair, She 's knitting away at a stocking, Rounding a heel to-night; And nobody knits like mother, Though age is dimming her sight. Glancing like silver, the needles Backward and forward go, And the rings on her thin white fingers Are flashing to and fro. There 's the golden band that has never Been off since her wedding-day, And the hoop encrusted with diamonds, From Tom, when he went away. THE DROPPED STITCHES. 39 Away at the beck of fortune, To the far-off China seas, While his mother compassed his out-bound ship Day and night on her knees. Pleading that wind and weather For Tom might ever be fair, And that never the boy might wander Out of reach of his mother's prayer. This blue-mixed sock ?it reminds her Of some she sent to the camp, For Willie to wear, poor soldier-boy, To keep his feet from the damp. And Willie he never wore them; His tired feet were still ?- Oh, so still in a narrow grave On the side of a Southern hill. It's wonderful?she remembers The first little sock she knit, A wee thing, white and dainty, Marvelling, "Would it fit?" Tucking it by in her basket, As if half it were a sin, And fearing lest careless eyes should see The dreams she was knitting in. 40 THE DROPPED STITCHES. Dear little baby Alice! Never was babe so sweet. Alice's own are all very well; But all! those dimpled feet That she fondled and kissed so often, That she taught t...

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

"Loaded with raven-black humor, The Cutter of Coragh Cove is a powerful, passionate and gripping story about people, set against the dark background of gruesome crime. Nora J. Hamilton's irresistibly compelling narrative, as well as a fascinating palette of characters with distinct expressive styles, turns this pins-and-needles mystery into an experience with hands-on impact." Nicholas Dmitriev, Author Nora J. Hamilton launched her writing career with the publication of short stories in the Dan River Fiction Anthology. Beginning with Pedestrian(2003), Hamilton has carried forth the tradition of beautifully written, haunting tales in: Successor( 2004), California Sun( 2005) and the soon-to-be-released Zig Zack(2007), which explore the darkest and most terrifying reaches of the human mind. In her most recent work, The Cutter of Coragh Cove, a full-length mystery novel, the author entices and challenges us again with a clever, hair-raising story of crime.

Women on the block called Mac's sister Madeline a beauty, a 'real Princess Grace'. But in spite of her height and mature body, to Mac, his sister never looked any different to other children. Until one summer evening in 1960, when his cousin Buddy taunted him with the odd truth of their family: Madeline was not really Mac's sister, but his father's first wife. A terrible accident had left her brain-damaged, with the intellect of a seven-year-old. When his father remarried, Madeline became part of his new family, devotedly cared for by his second wife like one of their own children. In 2003, Mac, now a middle-aged doctor, attends the funeral of Buddy's son, killed in Iraq. There, the divisions that drove two branches of their family apart are brought sharply into focus: on one side, belligerently liberal doves, on the other, defiantly patriotic hawks. Also revealed is the impact of Madeline's tragedy on the family, how it has shaped and altered forever the boundaries of love. In this moving story that follows one American family over several decades of wars fought on foreign soil, Jane Hamilton, with her usual humour and keen observation of family relationships, deftly explores notions of innocence and experience, loyalty and betrayal, sacrifice and devotion.

Jane Hamilton, award-winning author of "The Book of Ruth "and "A Map of the World "brings us a rich and loving novel about a non-traditional family in the aftermath of a terrible accident.
When Aaron Maciver's beautiful young wife, Madeline, suffers a head injury in a bicycle crash, she is left with the mental capabilities of a six-year-old. In the years that follow, Aaron and his second wife care for Madeline with deep tenderness and devotion as they raise two children of their own. Inspired in part by Elizabeth Spencer's "Light in the Piazza," Hamilton offers an honest and exquisite portrait of how a family tragedy forever shapes the boundaries of love.