It is 1936, and at fifty-five years old, Camila Boldsky is lost. As she retires ownership of her factory and frets about her estranged son’s emigration to Chile, political tensions in Vienna only grow thicker. But despite being a Jew, Camila feels ambivalent about the need to escape—until she meets Sylvia Rittenschein, who is passionate in her fight against the Nazi menace. The two women are drawn to each other, and their quick friendship develops into something more. At Sylvia’s urging, Camila is convinced to leave Vienna with her and start a new life in Cuba, but it is not so easy to leave behind their home and start anew. Although Camila settles into the unfamiliar country relatively well, Sylvia becomes restless, worried about the adult daughters she left behind. That worry spirals into an obsession that even Camila can’t alleviate, and she has no choice but to watch her lover take risks and return to Nazi-controlled Europe to retrieve her family. Camila Boldsky explores how two women reconcile with the family that World War II had taken from them and reconstruct their lives in exile.

It is 1936, and at fifty-five years old, Camila Boldsky is lost. As she retires ownership of her factory and frets about her estranged son’s emigration to Chile, political tensions in Vienna only grow thicker. But despite being a Jew, Camila feels ambivalent about the need to escape—until she meets Sylvia Rittenschein, who is passionate in her fight against the Nazi menace. The two women are drawn to each other, and their quick friendship develops into something more. At Sylvia’s urging, Camila is convinced to leave Vienna with her and start a new life in Cuba, but it is not so easy to leave behind their home and start anew. Although Camila settles into the unfamiliar country relatively well, Sylvia becomes restless, worried about the adult daughters she left behind. That worry spirals into an obsession that even Camila can’t alleviate, and she has no choice but to watch her lover take risks and return to Nazi-controlled Europe to retrieve her family. Camila Boldsky explores how two women reconcile with the family that World War II had taken from them and reconstruct their lives in exile.

"[When we read and write poetry,] it is as if a long-settled cloud in our mind suddenly dissipates, and we are divine once again." -- from the Introduction Poetry is the language of devotion in prayer, chant, and song. Reading and writing poetry creates clarity, deepens and expands spiritual inquiry, and cultivates wisdom, compassion, self-confidence, patience, and love. In author Robert McDowell's words, poetry makes you into a tuning fork of the Divine. But poetry has disappeared over the centuries from religious ceremonies, academic curricula, and public discourse. In Poetry as Spiritual Practice, the first inspirational and instructional guide to combine poetry and spirituality, McDowell restores poetry as the natural language of spiritual practice and invites you to recognize poetry as "the pure sound and shape of your spirit." Vividly illustrated with a wide range of poems from all historical eras and poetic traditions, numerous religions and faiths, and McDowell's own and his students' work, Poetry as Spiritual Practice will reintroduce you to the unique pleasure of verse. And meditations throughout will allow you to integrate reading and writing poetry into your spiritual journeys and daily life. Since many of us have long forgotten, or never learned, the mechanics and terminology of poetry -- trochaic feet and tropes trip us up; we can't tell a villanelle from its shorter cousin, rondeau; and a terza rima may as well be a tanka -- this is also an instructional handbook on reading and writing poetry. An engaging guide through the landscape of world poetry, McDowell argues along the way for the many practical benefits of poetic literacy. Making poetry an essential part of daily rituals, aspirations, and intentions will put you on the path to greater meaning, growth, and peace in your life. At once an engaging technical primer, a profound meditation on the relationship between poetry and the Divine, and an inspirational guide for integrating poetry into spiritual practice, Poetry as Spiritual Practice will become a cherished companion.

Competition talent shows have been among the most popular on television in the 21st century. The producers of these shows claim to give ordinary people extraordinary opportunities to change their lives by showcasing a specific skill leading to a new career trajectory. Most participants will claim that they entered to get a big break and to develop a career they have always dreamed of. To what extent do these shows deliver on such promises? Following through what happens to leading contestants in singing, entertainment, modelling, cooking and business entrepreneur competitions, this book shows that few go on to achieve lasting success in their chosen career. Many return to obscurity or to their previous lives. Some enjoy a low level career in the new direction delivered by the competition they entered. Just a few become truly successful. The pop and entertainment themed contests have discovered just a handful of major pop stars and entertainers out of many hundreds who have taken part after the initial auditions. Turning to the cookery or business franchises, there are few who go on to achieve lasting success in their chosen career. In these it is equally likely that the winners go on to enjoy success with media careers rather than as chefs or entrepreneurs. The most successful franchise of all is the fashion model competition (Next Top Model), which has yielded a high hit rate in terms of career success. What the analysis here also reveals is that it isn’t only the winners who ultimately benefit the most from their appearances in these shows. Moreover, television picks its own stars by recruiting contestants because they are telegenic or have a good backstory as much as for their relevant talents. In this way, a talent hungry medium has co-opted these franchises to replenish its own needs.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE of the TOP 10 BOOKS OF THE YEAR by THE NEW YORK TIMES * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY * SLATE* THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER * Also named one of the BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by Vanity Fair, Time, NPR, The Guardian, Oprah Daily, Self, Vogue, The New Yorker, BBC, Vulture, and many more! OLIVIA WILDE to direct A24's TV adaptation of THE CANDY HOUSE and A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD! From one of the most celebrated writers of our time comes an “inventive, effervescent” (Oprah Daily) novel about the memory and quest for authenticity and human connection. The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is “one of those tech demi-gods with whom we’re all on a first name basis.” Bix is forty, with four kids, restless, and desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or “externalizing” memory. Within a decade, Bix’s new technology, “Own Your Unconscious”—which allows you access to every memory you’ve ever had, and to share your memories in exchange for access to the memories of others—has seduced multitudes. In the world of Egan’s spectacular imagination, there are “counters” who track and exploit desires and there are “eluders,” those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles—from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a chapter of tweets. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also a moving testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for connection, family, privacy, and love. “A beautiful exploration of loss, memory, and history” (San Francisco Chronicle), “this is minimalist maximalism. It’s as if Egan compressed a big 19th-century novel onto a flash drive” (The New York Times).

In this taut and explosive debut novel, one lapse in judgement lands a young mother in a government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance.Frida Liu is struggling. She doesn't have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents' sacrifices. She can't persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with Harriet, their cherubic daughter, does Frida finally attain the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she is just enough.Until Frida has a very bad day.The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida. The ones who check their phones, letting their children get injured on the playground; who let their children walk home alone. Because of one moment of poor judgment, a host of government officials will now determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother's devotion.Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that a bad mother can be redeemed. That she can learn to be good.A searing page-turner that is also a transgressive novel of ideas about the perils of "perfect" upper-middle-class parenting; the violence enacted upon women by both the state and, at times, one another; the systems that separate families; and the boundlessness of love, The School for Good Mothers introduces, in Frida, an everywoman for the ages. Using dark wit to explore the pains and joys of the deepest ties that bind us, Chan has written a modern literary classic.