[PDF] The Visionist eBook

Author : Rachel Urquhart
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 37,36 MB
Release : 2014-02-27
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 1471113353

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'Fascinating. An unexpected coming of age story, a suspenseful mystery, a thoughtful examination of the nature of good and evil' Eowyn Ivey,The Snow Child 'It was years before a Visionist came to the City of Hope. How could I have fathomed that her presence in our small, remote sanctuary - as unforeseen to her as to anyone - would change everything?' Massachusetts, 1842. Fifteen-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to her family farm, killing her abusive father. With his fiery ghost at her heels, Polly and her young brother seek refuge in a local Shaker community - the City of Hope. Polly has much to hide from this mysterious society of believers, with the local fire inspector on her trail and the ever-present daemons from her past. But when they hail her a 'Visionist', the first their community has known, she is subject to overwhelming scrutiny. Despite being fiercely protected by a young Shaker sister named Charity, a girl who has never known the outside world yet will stake her very soul on Polly's purity, Polly finds herself in danger from forces both sides of the City's walls. And in a world where faith and fear coexist, safety has a price… Rachel Urquhart conjures a cast of extraordinary characters and brings to life one of history's most fabled and mysterious religious movements. 'A fresh batch of debut fiction introduces heroines and an anti-heroine with impressive abilities and memorable flaws. None is as powerful as Polly Kimball, a 19th-century New Englander ... Part mystery, part coming-of-age tale, The Visionistprobes questions of faith and fear while deftly illuminating Shakerism' --Observer 'Rachel Urquhart writes with precision and beauty' --Sunday Times 'Utterly brilliant' --Lucy Mangan 'Fascinating ... An unexpected coming of age story, a suspenseful mystery' --Eowyn Ivey, author of the bestseller The Snow Child 'Transfixing ... Urquhart has created a world rich in detail and vibrant in its historical dimensions ... Like Marilynne Robinson's Gilead... The Visionistaspires to illuminate our understanding of faith, resilience, shame and forgiveness' --New York Times Book Review 'A daring novel of secrets, revelations and redemption ... engrossing ... compelling' --O Magazine 'A literary achievement one might expect from a writer with an extensive backlist of published works' --New York Journal of Books 'Shatteringly original ... so rich, so detailed, that you not only come to care for all the characters deeply, you also become so immersed in the world of the Shakers ... Part mystery and part thriller ... wise and haunting ... provocative, passionate and profoundly redemptive' --San Francisco Chronicle 'Like Nathaniel Hawthorne's haunted novels, The Visionisttests a community's faith and devotion as expertly mounted, suspenseful threats grow ... The Visionistwill have you holding your breath until the final, magnificent revelation' --ShelfAwareness 'There are characters with crosses to bear and scruffy villains straight out of Dickens. The Visionistreads in parts like a Victorian thriller ... In a painstakingly researched novel framed by a suspenseful plot, Urquhart gives the reader an intriguing glimpse behind these doors' --Wall Street Journal

Author : Rachel Urquhart
Publisher : Little, Brown
Page : 371 pages
File Size : 43,67 MB
Release : 2014-01-14
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0316228095

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An enthralling first novel about a teenage girl who finds refuge -- but perhaps not -- in an 1840s Shaker community. After 15-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to the family farm, killing her abusive father, she and her young brother find shelter in a Massachusetts Shaker community called the City of Hope. It is the Era of Manifestations, when young girls in Shaker enclaves all across the Northeast are experiencing extraordinary mystical visions, earning them the honorific of "Visionist" and bringing renown to their settlements. The City of Hope has not yet been blessed with a Visionist, but that changes when Polly arrives and is unexpectedly exalted. As she struggles to keep her dark secrets concealed in the face of increasing scrutiny, Polly finds herself in a life-changing friendship with a young Shaker sister named Charity, a girl who will stake everything -- even her faith -- on Polly's honesty and purity.

Author : Chelsea Handler
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 30,29 MB
Release : 2010-04-01
Category : Humor
ISBN : 0446563536

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In these personal essays, the hilarious comedian and Chelsea Lately host reflects on family, love life, and the absurdities of adulthood with "cheeky candor" and signature wit (Philadelphia Inquirer). Life doesn't get more hilarious than when Chelsea Handler takes aim with her irreverent wit. Who else would send all-staff emails to smoke out the dumbest people on her show? Now, in this new collection of original essays, the #1 bestselling author of Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea delivers one laugh-out-loud moment after another as she sets her sights on the ridiculous side of childhood, adulthood, and daughterhood. Family moments are fair game, whether it's writing a report on Reaganomics to earn a Cabbage Patch doll, or teaching her father social graces by ordering him to stay indoors. It's open season on her love life, from playing a prank on her boyfriend (using a ravioli, a fake autopsy, and the Santa Monica pier) to adopting a dog so she can snuggle with someone who doesn't talk. And everyone better duck for cover when her beach vacation turns into matchmaking gone wild. Outrageously funny and deliciously wicked, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang is good good good good! Chelsea Handler on . . . Being unpopular: "My parents couldn't have been more unreasonable when it came to fads or clothes that weren't purchased at a pharmacy." Living with her boyfriend: "He's similar to a large toddler, the only difference being he doesn't cry when he wakes up." Appreciating her brother: "He's a certified public accountant, and I have a real life." Arm-wrestling a maid of honor: "It wasn't her strength that intimidated me. It was the starry way her eyes focused on me, like Mike Tyson getting ready to feed."

Author : Laura Morowitz
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 21,46 MB
Release : 2017-11-01
Category : Art
ISBN : 1351750224

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This title was first published in 2000. The nineteenth century saw the emergence of numerous artistic brotherhoods - groups of artists bound together in communal production, sharing spiritual and aesthetic aims. Although it is widely acknowledged that this is an unique feature of the period, there has not previously been a separate study of the phenomenon. This collection of essays provides a thorough and wide-ranging exploration of the issue. Situating artistic brotherhoods within their historical context, it offers unique insights into the social, political, economic and cultural milieu of the nineteenth century. It focuses on the most celebrated and influential brotherhoods, while also bringing to light lesser-known or forgotten artists. The essays explore the artistic fraternity from a wide variety of perspectives, probing issues of gender, identity, professional practices and artistic formation in Europe and the United States. This book investigates the Nazarenes, the Pre-Raphaelites, the Russian Abramatsova, the Primitifs, the Nabis as well as other leading groups. The book contains a substantial introduction, which establishes the key questions and issues surrounding the phenomena of the artistic brotherhood, including their relation to the larger artistic community, their association with other social and political organizations of the period, and the ways in which mythologies have been built around them in subsequent histories and recollections of the period.

Author : Rachel Urquhart
Publisher :
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 49,42 MB
Release : 2014
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781471113338

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'It was years before a Visionist came to the City of Hope. How could I have fathomed that her presence in our small, remote sanctuary - as unforeseen to her as to anyone - would change everything?' Massachusetts, 1842. Fifteen-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to her family farm, killing her abusive father. With his fiery ghost at her heels, Polly and her young brother seek refuge in a local Shaker community - the City of Hope. Polly has much to hide from this mysterious society of believers, with the local fire inspector on her trail and the ever-present daemons from her past. But when they hail her a 'Visionist', the first their community has known, she is subject to overwhelming scrutiny. Despite being fiercely protected by a young Shaker sister named Charity, a girl who has never known the outside world yet will stake her very soul on Polly's purity, Polly finds herself in danger from forces both sides of the City's walls. And in a world where faith and fear coexist, safety has a price… Rachel Urquhart conjures a cast of extraordinary characters and brings to life one of history's most fabled and mysterious religious movements.

Author : Theresa Rebeck
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 301 pages
File Size : 19,62 MB
Release : 2016-02-23
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0698182960

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“Crazy, Stupid, Love meets Notting Hill. About an actress making it big and the complicated relationship she has with the guy she met as a teenager. You’ll read it in two days” —The Skimm Their meeting in a parking lot outside a high school football game was both completely forgettable and utterly life-changing. Because no matter how you look at it, it is piss-poor luck to meet the love of your life before your life has even started. Fierce and ambitious, Alison transforms into a rising TV star in New York City while her first love, Kyle, all heart and spiritual yearning, becomes a pediatrician in suburban Cincinnati, married to the wrong woman. What could these mismatched souls have to do with each other? Everything and nothing. Even as their fates rocket them forward and apart, neither can fully let go of the past. As their lives inevitably intersect, Alison and Kyle must face each other in the revealing light of their decisions. I’m Glad About You is a glittering study of how far the compromises two people make will take them from the lives they were meant to live.

Author : Joseph Bonanno
Publisher : St. Martin's Paperbacks
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 21,66 MB
Release : 2013-06-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1466847174

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"Friendships, connections, family ties, trust, loyalty, obedience-this was the 'glue' that held us together." These were the principles that the greatest Mafia "Boss of Bosses," Joseph Bonnano, lived by. Born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Bonnano found his future amid the whiskey-running, riotous streets of Prohibition America in 1924, when he illegally entered the United States to pursue his dreams. By the age of only twenty-six, Bonnano became a Don. He would eventually take over the New York underworld, igniting the "Castellammarese War," one of the bloodiest Family battles ever to hit New York City... Now, in this candid and stunning memoir, Joe Bonanno-likely a model for Don Corleone in the blockbuster movie The Godfather-takes readers inside the world of the real Mafia. He reveals the inner workings of New York's Five Families-Bonanno, Gambino, Profaci, Lucchese, and Genovese-and uncovers how the Mafia not only dominated local businesses, but also influenced national politics. A fascinating glimpse into the world of crime, A Man of Honor is an unforgettable account of one of the most powerful crime figures in America's history.

Author : David Weir
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 258 pages
File Size : 45,41 MB
Release : 2009-01-01
Category : Art
ISBN : 079147917X

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Decadent Culture in the United States traces the development of the decadent movement in America from its beginnings in the 1890s to its brief revival in the 1920s. During the fin de siècle, many Americans felt the nation had entered a period of decline since the frontier had ended and the country's "manifest destiny" seemed to be fulfilled. Decadence—the cultural response to national decline and individual degeneracy so familiar in nineteenth-century Europe—was thus taken up by groups of artists and writers in major American cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. Noting that the capitalist, commercial context of America provided possibilities for the entrance of decadence into popular culture to a degree that simply did not occur in Europe, David Weir argues that American-style decadence was driven by a dual impulse: away from popular culture for ideological reasons, yet toward popular culture for economic reasons. By going against the grain of dominant social and cultural trends, American writers produced a native variant of Continental Decadence that eventually dissipated "upward" into the rising leisure class and "downward" into popular, commercial culture.