A Kate Fansler, academic and amateur detective, working on a biography uncovers a poignant journal, a hidden manuscript, and three unusual women guarding an intriguing mystery.

Provides lists of hit songs by date with information on the artist, songwriter, producer, label, and offering interviews with popular artists.

Preeminent feminist critic Carolyn G. Heilbrun's life experience echoes that of a generation of professional women, often isolated and marginalized within inhospitable institutions. Incorporating interviews with friends, colleagues, and Heilbrun herself, author Susan Kress illuminates Heilbrun's various public identities and places her in the context of the developing women's movement.

Arthur Briggs's life was Homeric in scope. Born on the tiny island of Grenada, he set sail for Harlem during the Renaissance, then to Europe in the aftermath of World War I, where he was among the first pioneers to introduce jazz music to the world. During the legendary Jazz Age in Paris, Briggs's trumpet provided the soundtrack while Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and the rest of the Lost Generation got drunk. By the 1930s, Briggs was considered "the Louis Armstrong of Paris," and was the peer of the greatest names of his time, from Josephine Baker to Django Reinhardt. Even during the Great Depression, he was secure as "the greatest trumpeter in Europe." He did not, however, heed warnings to leave Paris before it fell to the Nazis, and in 1940, he was arrested and sent to the prison camp at Saint Denis. What happened at that camp, and the role Briggs played in it, is truly unforgettable. Better Days Will Come Again, based on groundbreaking research and including unprecedented access to Briggs's oral memoir, is a crucial document of jazz history, a fast-paced epic, and an entirely original tale of survival.

Amanda Cross examines relationships and human nature in The Players Come Again, a thought-provoking novel about literature, feminism and ageing. The 80s are coming to a close and Kate Fansler is using this time to tie up loose ends. Having completed a work of literary criticism – and vowing it will be her last – Kate enjoys lunch with editor Simon Pearlstine, indulging in her usual vodka martini. There is no rest for the wicked as he commissions her to write a biography of reclusive Gabrielle Foxx, the quiet wife of a famous modernist author. Kate discovers there is more to Gabrielle than meets the eye, and in order to trace the Foxx family’s complicated history she must track down three important women from Gabrielle’s past: Anne, Dorinda and Nellie. But the further Kate probes into Gabrielle’s history the darker the secrets she uncovers . . . ‘I salute this latest work as being among the best she has written, if not the best’ - Antonia Fraser

The Taming of the Shrew is one of the most famous and controversial of Shakespeare's comedies.