by Stanley Cavell (1996)
What is marriage? Can a relationship dedicated to equality, friendship, and mutual education flower in an atmosphere of romance? What are the paths between loving another and knowing another? Stanley Cavell identified a genre of classic American films that engaged these questions in his study of comedies of remarriage, Pursuits of Happiness. With Contesting Tears, Cavell demonstrates that a contrasting genre, which he calls "the melodrama of the unknown woman," shares a surprising number and weave of concerns with those comedies. Cavell provides close readings of four melodramas he finds definitive of the genre: Letter from an Unknown Woman; Gaslight; Now, Voyager; and Stella Dallas. The women in these melodramas, like the women in the comedies, demand equality, shared education, and transfiguration, exemplifying for Cavell a moral perfectionism he identifies as Emersonian. But unlike the comedies, which portray a quest for a shared existence of expressiveness and joy, the melodramas trace instead the woman's recognition that in this quest she is isolated. Part of the melodrama concerns the various ways the men in the films (and the audiences of the films) interpret and desire to force the woman's consequent inaccessibility.
Norma Fox Mazer
As she watches her friends with their fathers, fourteen-year-old Jessie decides the family she shares with her mother and her great-great-aunt is not enough, so she sets out to learn more about the father who left when she was just a baby.
Karen Turkal
A vivid nightmare. Two voices. The murder of her mother. All these things have Dia Swift disoriented and scared to death. Dia's life had been routine. From being home schooled to traveling the globe, her first twenty-three years were ordinary. Everything is about to change. Suddenly, she finds herself in the middle of a woods, standing in front of an old cabin. Will Dia be able to unravel the mystery of what she is and stop the dangerous man that's haunted her dream? The only living relative she has left is her Gram Spina. Gram Spina--who only hangs around long enough to speak in cryptic phrases and then disappears. Strange notes lead her to terrifying adventures of horror. Crows and a little piglet help her discover and develop powers she didn't know existed, or did she? Outerbones, a Bone Triangle, and people called Corvids become the beginning of many mysteries of maiming, mayhem, and murder.
Shaun Alexander with Joe Hilley
Bible teacher and former professional football player Shaun Alexander describes five stages of spiritual maturity and shares his thoughts on the benefits of walking with God.
Valérie Chevalier
Bien malgré elle, Florence est une amoureuse en série. Romantique et fleur bleue, elle croyait dur comme fer que son premier amour durerait toujours. Mais la vie s'est vite chargée de lui prouver que la réalité n'est pas comme dans les films, et que son destin serait différent de celui des membres de sa famille, dont les couples perdurent, pour le meilleur et pour le pire. Au fil de ses rencontres, Florence échafaude une théorie sur l'amour. Même si elle continue d'y croire, elle se bute au mur des ruptures, et se laisse doucement aller au cynisme et à la désillusion. Mais le soleil n'est jamais très loin, et lorsqu'on lâche prise, le courant finit bien par nous mener quelque part. Une série de sketchs tragi-comiques pour rêver à l'amour ou se remettre de ses peines. Ne vous en faites pas, ceci est un livre, et les histoires, ça finit souvent bien.