Villette, a profound novel by Charlotte Brontë, explores themes of isolation, identity, and unrequited love through the experiences of its protagonist, Lucy Snowe. Set in the fictional town of Villette, the story follows Lucy as she navigates her way through personal hardships and societal expectations in a foreign land. Her journey of self-discovery and resilience resonates deeply with modern readers facing issues of mental health, loneliness, and...

Rickie Elliot, sensitive and idealistic, misleads himself through his conventional desire for marriage and fatherhood. Falling for and marrying Agnes Pembroke, he journeys away from the philosophical ideals of his Cambridge youth.

An extraordinary debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born "with one foot on the other side." Unsettling, heartwrenching, dark, and powerful, Freshwater is a sharp evocation of a rare way of experiencing the world, one that illuminates how we all construct our identities. Ada begins her life in...

"In the sweaty music clubs and late-night house parties of Nashville, an aspiring songwriter tries to make friends, find love, and write songs-without losing herself"-- Provided by publisher.

Description of Big Sur Jack Kerouac shot to literary fame in 1957 with the publication of his iconic book of the Beat Generation, On the Road. Kerouac was termed "King of the Beats," a mantle he was entirely uncomfortable with. Along with Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, and several others forged a new literary voice and attitude — it was a movement that often mocked and challenged the American status quo....

When her thirteen-year-old daughter Callie begins receiving suicidal notes from Robyn, the girl she supposedly bullied, Rebecca is determined to save the unbalanced Robyn, but in doing so, unknowingly places her own daughter's life in great danger.

Leaving his home in a migrant community, Francisco sets off for college, carrying memories of years of poverty and prejudice.

Dana Potowski is a restaurant critic and food writer and a longtime member of a progressive Unitarian Universalist congregation in Southern California. Just as she's finishing the book tour for her latest bestseller, Dana is asked to join the church search committee for a new minister. Under pressure to find her next book idea, she agrees, and resolves to secretly pen a memoir, with recipes, about the experience. That memoir, Search, follows the travails...

A true-life novel about Lily Casey Smith (the author's grandmother) who at age six helped her father break horses, at age fifteen left home to teach in a frontier town, and later as a wife and mother runs a vast ranch in Arizona where she survived tornadoes, droughts, floods, the Great Depression, and the most heartbreaking personal tragedy--but despite a life of hardscrabble drudgery still remains a woman of indomitable spirit.

The poet, Audre Lorde, depicts her life and examines the influence of various women on her development.