by Diane Leslie (1999)
Tucked away in her parent's lavish Beverly Hills mansion, young Fleur de Leigh has all the benefits of a privileged upbringing. Hers is a world marked by glamour and abundance, where the air is thick with showbiz glitz and couches sink under big screen stars. Fleur's mother, a flamboyant, ambitious B-movie actress and eponymous star of The Charmian Leigh Radio Mystery Half-Hour, and aloof father, currently reduced to producing TV game shows, casually entrust their daughter to a procession of nannies. Among them are Bettina, who accessorizes her uniform with high heels; Clover, an orphan determined on an acting career; and the monstrous Miss Hoate, whose brief tenure ends when she is escorted from the job in a straitjacket. From the quirky to the certifiably insane, these women all play a role in shaping Fleur, touching her heart, and ours, in unique and unpredictable ways.
Joseph Hansen
Book #1 in the Nathan Reed series. Joseph Hansen has been praised by The New York Times as "one of the best we have" and by the Boston Globe as among "our finest writers". Known for his bestselling Dave Brandstetter series, Hansen here tells a richly atmospheric story of a young homosexual man's coming of age.
Chris Freeman and James J. Berg
From New Orleans (Love, Bourbon Street) to San Francisco (Love, Castro Street), Alyson’s richly detailed, highly acclaimed series finds its way to the sun-dappled land of Southern California. The story of Los Angeles’ gay history is often overshadowed by the mystique of Hollywood, as well as the notion that the gay community was centered in the City by the Bay or the Big Apple. Now, Los Angeles’ rich literary and cultural heritage is revealed in these thoughtful, humorous, and insightful essays.
Joyce Dennys
The sequel to *Henrietta's War*, in the form of letters from doctor's wife Henrietta to her soldier cousin. Henrietta and her neighbors in their quiet village cope with shortages, air raids, sons and brothers in harm's way, and a war that shows no sign of ending. Candid, gently funny, with moments of deep pathos.
Elizabeth Graver
Told in language at once spare and lyrical, Unravelling is the story of Aimee Slater, who has always longed for a life beyond the small New Hampshire farm her family owns. When, against her mother's wishes, she goes off at the age of 15 to work in the City of Spindles - the factory town of Lowell, Massachusetts - she opens a rift between herself and her mother that feels, in her own words, like "an impossible distance." How Aimee ultimately creates a life for herself and bridges that distance makes for a moving story about love, loss, and the power of redemption.