An atlas of the difficult world

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Sian Evans and Cheryl Robson

"Jenufa (Her Step-daughter), by Gabriela Preissova (Czech): They play is a neglected classic about the secret birth and infanticide of Jenufa's baby. It aroused controversy at its premiere and later became the basis for Janacek's famous opera." "The Umbilical Cord, by Krystyna Kofta (Poland): The portrayal of an intense three-way relationship in a family where ritual has replaced real life." "Tulip Doctor, by Vera Filo (Hungary): A surreal and kaleidoscopic exploration of contemporary life with a cast of real and mythical characters engaged in an absurd search for meaning. Set against the background of war, life becomes a cartoon, where anything can happen and will." "The Tender Mercies, by Sladjana Vujovic (Montenegro): A tense psychological drama in which language is a weapon and the relationship between torturer and victim becomes infinitely interchangeable." "Nascendo, by Alina Nelega (Romania): Set in a Maternity hospital on the eve of the revolution, three pregnant women, hospital staff and a young man reflect the conflicts within and the future of Romanian society." "The Chosen Ones, by Elena Popova (Belorussia): Irina lives with her father, her daughter, her husband and his mistress in their decaying apartment, longing to change her life but with little hope of escape." "Belgrade Trilogy, by Biljana Srbljanovic (Yugoslavia): Set in Sydney, Los Angeles and Prague on New Year's Eve, the play shows snapshots from everyday life of young people who fled abroad to escape the Balkan war and the choices they face as they attempt to build a new life for themselves as exiles."--BOOK JACKET.

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Catherine Coulter

Lindsay Foxe is a successful model, a beautiful woman who hides behind a new name to protect herself from a past of betrayal and treachery and a present filled with sinister shadows. The product of old San Francisco wealth, the daughter of a man who despises her, she is brutally deceived by her sister's husband, and continues to live in the shadow of her sister's perfect image. Lindsay if finally forced to face up to her past when she meets tough and rugged S.C. Taylor, an ex-cop turned private investigator who is hired to protect her. It is Taylor who helps bring Lindsay out of a past filled with pain toward a future filled with trust and love. But first she has much to overcome, many fears to face. Her life has been threatened, yet her pursuer remains hidden in the shadows. Who wants Lindsay dead...and why?

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Richard Siken

Richard Siken's *Crush*, selected as the 2004 winner of the Yale Younger Poets prize, is a powerful collection of poems driven by obsession and love. Siken writes with ferocity, and his reader hurtles unstoppably with him. His poetry is confessional, gay, savage, and charged with violent eroticism. In the world of American poetry, Siken's voice is striking. In her introduction to the book, competition judge Louise Glück hails the "cumulative, driving, apocalyptic power, [and] purgatorial recklessness" of Siken's poems. She notes, "Books of this kind dream big. . . . They restore to poetry that sense of crucial moment and crucial utterance which may indeed be the great genius of the form."

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Chris Oxlade

"Describes new technologies that are helping make fossil fuels, biofuels, water and wind energy, and solar energy more efficient, and discusses different ways we will get energy in the future"--Provided by publisher.