THE OLD ASHBURN PLACE by Margaret Flint Winner of the Dodd, Mead Pictorial Review prize for the best first novel of 1935 As the second oldest member of the Ashburn "tribe," Charlie Ashburn takes his family responsibilities seriously. He toils tirelessly to keep the rural Maine farmstead going, honoring his mother's legacy by supporting, along with his siblings, the college education of brother Alfred and the schooling of others in the clan. In his own unschooled view, the sacrifices he makes are well worth it if they produce a household that is "beautiful, entire and clean." Tranquility shatters, however, when Charlie becomes smitten with a well-off girl, Marian Parks, and entangled with his brother Morris's wife, Elsie. While Marian flirts and tantalizes, Elsie ensnares him, leading to an existential crisis that ultimately determines Charlie's future. _____________ ABOUT MARGARET FLINT Margaret "Peg" Flint was born at Orono, Maine in 1891 to Hannah Ellis Leavitt and Walter Flint. She attended the University of Maine at Orono and, briefly, Simmons College, majoring first in biology, then philosophy. She did not enroll for her senior year at UMO, but she had gained a passion for writing and soon married fellow student Lester Warner Jacobs, who had graduated with a degree in civil engineering. She did not earn a degree herself. Lester Jacobs's civil engineering work in the coal industry and later for the Army Corps of Engineers relocated the family several times-to Norfolk, Virginia, Slidell, Louisiana and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. She and Lester had six children, three born before World War I, three after. During the war years, during which her husband served in the US Army, Margaret lived in her beloved Maine. Margaret's first novel, The Old Ashburn Place, earned a $10,000 national prize for best first novel of the year in 1935. A phone call from the publisher, Dodd, Mead & Co., told her she was a finalist. But the follow-up news of her win came over the airwaves, announced by Walter Winchell during his radio newscast. The prize was reported in major papers nationwide, such as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and the Chicago Tribune. The change in her life from obscure housewife to famous author was as dramatic as it was instantaneous, but her success was severely offset by the loss of her husband in 1936 to the after-effects of WWI gassing. The cash prize, however, enabled her to move the family back to Maine. She renovated the former Pequawket Inn in West Baldwin, which lies within the large acreage land-granted to her father's family after the French and Indian War. Eight more novels and a flood of newspaper and magazine articles followed. As a novelist, her forte was psychological insights into family and neighborhood relationships. She was also noted for her ability to convey the speech patterns of the small region between Sebago Lake and the New Hampshire border, the setting for most of her stories. Her books include: The Old Ashburn Place (1936): Novel of bucolic Maine life Valley of Decision (1937) Deacon's Road (1938) Breakneck Brook (1939) Back O' the Mountain (1940) Down the Road A Piece (1941) October Fires (1941) Enduring Riches (1942) Dress Right, Dress: The Autobiography of a WAC (1943) Cover art: "And Everything Nice" by Bryce Cameron Liston.

Annie lives in a world that is being torn apart by economic upheaval and conflicts. Her career and avenging her parents' murders were the only things that mattered to her. Working for a secret military unit and being head of an elite team, gave Annie the opportunity for revenge but has hardened Annie and her heart and left her vowing that she would not let anyone into her life and even the few friends that she did have where held at arm's length. Annie's life would change and make her question what she really wanted out when she was approached by a tall handsome stranger named Robert who was offering her a distraction for the evening. Being distracted on the range left Annie injured, and left Annie in Robert's care while she recovered. While spending time together their feelings deepened and even though Robert professed his feelings to Annie she still tried to deny the existence of hers. Her injury also left her unable to lead her team on the mission that would allow her to finally avenge her parents' death and left Annie furious when the mission and her team were given to Robert to lead. After Robert was injured on the mission, seeing him lying unconscious in a hospital bed, broke down the walls that Annie had built and allowed her the ability to finally feel what she didn't know she was missing all these years. The one night of distraction turned into more than anything Annie or Robert could have imagined. They never expected that a seemingly harmless distraction could turn into something that would make them both find love and reevaluate what their futures held for them.

Five personalities, whose lives impacted the consciousness of our planet forever, have crossed over to a greater understanding of life. Speaking through a gifted spiritual medium, they review their worldly lives and, now as our inspirational teachers, eagerly and lovingly share their experiences and wisdom. A subtle proof of their continued existence flows, for example, from John Lennon's message to Paul, his "brother," Princess Diana's concern for her sons, JFK, Jr.'s profession that he still loves to fly, Janis Joplin's warning about drugs, her thoughts on freedom and her focus on the women's movement, and George Harrison's seriousness and spiritual preaching. This book is a must-read for anyone who is on a spiritual path - it will help you wake up!

This Bibliography presents citations of hundreds of biographies of Afro-Americans under the categories of General, Science, Engineering and Invention, Entertainment, Sports, Civil Rights, Women and the Arts. Access is provided via Title, Author and Subject Indexes.