Frank Carlson Library

"Eight hard-hitting yet irresistible short stories" by the celebrated Chinese writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (Booklist).

"If China has a Kafka, it may be Mo Yan," says Publishers Weekly. In this collection of short fiction, the acclaimed author presents stories of characters who suffer, physically and spiritually, under the yoke of an oppressive society—the newly unemployed factory worker...

"A powerful, emotional debut novel told in the unforgettable voice of a young Nigerian woman who is trapped in a life of servitude but determined to get an education so that she can escape and choose her own future. Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education. This, her mother has told her, is the only way to get a "louding voice"--the ability to speak for herself and decide her own future. But instead, Adunni's...

The Foreigner (1909) tells the story of Kalman Kalmar, a young Ukrainian immigrant working in rural Saskatchewan. It addresses the themes of male maturation, cultural assimilation, and a form of "muscular Christianity" recurring in Connor's popular Western tales. Daniel Coleman's afterword considers the text's departure from Connor's established fiction formulas and provides a unique framework for understanding its depiction of difference.

After a family member tragically falls ill, Una Golden was forced to move from Pennsylvania to New York in order to get a job to help support her family. Set in the early 1900s, going to the big city as a single woman was daunting and unconventional, but Una is dedicated to helping her family. After diligently job searching and excelling in additional training and education, Una discovers that she has the skills to be a talented commercial real estate...

In thinking about her native land, Julia Reed quotes another Southern writer, Willie Morris, who said, Its the juxtapositions that get you down here. These juxtapositions are, for Julia, the soul of the South and in her warmhearted and funny new audiobook, South Toward Home, she chronicles her adventures through the highs and the lows of Southern life the Delta hot tamale festival, a masked ball, a rollicking party in a boat on a sand bar, scary Christian...

Quarante ans plus tard, le roman de Blaise Ndala revisite le «combat du siècle» entre Mohamed Ali et George Foreman en 1974 au Zaïre. Plus qu'un récit sur la boxe, c'est l'histoire de l'Afrique au lendemain de la décolonisation. Dans un style vif et incisif, l'auteur nous montre l'envers du décor d'un combat mémorable. La musique, la poésie et la magie servent à nous faire découvrir les Africains sous un jour étourdissant. Ils sont drles,...

Hugh McVey moves from Missouri to the agrarian town of Bidwell, Ohio. He invents a mechanical cabbage planter to ease the burden of famers, but an investor in town exploits his product, which fails to succeed. His next invention, a corn cutter, makes him a millionaire and transforms Bidwell into a center of manufacturing. McVey, perennially lonely and ruminative, meets Clara Butterworth, who attends college at nearby Ohio State and is perennially...

In the spirit of Khaled Hosseini, Nadia Hashimi and Shilpi Somaya Gowda comes this powerful debut from a talented new voice—a sweeping, emotional journey of two childhood friends in Mumbai, India, whose lives converge only to change forever one fateful night.

India, 1986: Mukta, a ten-year-old village girl from the lower caste Yellama cult has come of age and must fulfill her destiny of becoming a temple prostitute, as her mother and

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"The perfect winter heart-warmer."—Cathy Kelly, bestselling author of Between Sisters and Secrets of a Happy Marriage

From beloved author Felicity Hayes-McCoy, an enchanting, cozy novel perfect for fans of Jenny Colgan, Nina George, and Nancy Thayer. It's Christmas in Ireland, and when Cassie Fitzgerald arrives from Toronto to visit her grandparents, she learns that it's never too late to come home.

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The Spoils of Poynton is a novel by Henry James, first published under the title The Old Things as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly in 1896 and then as a book in 1897. This novel traces the shifting relations among three human beings and a magnificent collection of art, decorative arts, and furniture arrayed like jewels in a country house called Poynton. Mrs. Gereth, a widow of impeccable taste and iron will, formed the collection over decades only...