It's the time of the Tolpuddle trial and unrest. The Dorset labourers work under terrible conditions for starvation wages. When her mother and stepfather perish in a fire, an illegitimate peasant girl, Siana Lewis, is left destitute, with a young brother and baby sister to support. Securing a job with the local rector, Siana, with her wit and beauty, will attract the attention of three men. Daniel Ayres - a young man with high hopes and very little else - is her first love, who cruelly betrays her. Francis Matheson, the local doctor, admires Siana's determination and thirst for knowledge. The pair establish a relaxed friendship. Then there's the local squire, Edward Forbes. A sensual and devious man, Edward is used to going after what he wants. He desires the beautiful peasant girl at first sight of her - and will stop at nothing to get her.

Judith Kirwan Kelley provides a unique "lived" perspective on growing up in Dorchester, Massachusetts, during tumultuous socio-political times. Deeply impacted by the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the decade of the 1960s dramatically shaped the contexts of living in America. The changing family as well as the social movements for Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Gay Rights, Rights of the Disabled, the sexual revolution, among other forms of cultural upheaval, all played their part in the life of one Originally from Dorchester (OFD). Written with humor and pathos, the stories are based on the author's experiences, backed up by a comprehensive investigation of written sources which explore the complex history of mandatory school desegregation in Boston, and other cultural phenomena occurring at the time. Kirwan Kelley's detailed elaborations of family, neighborhood, and complex cultural dynamics are reflective of both the consistency and unpredictability of life. Intended to inform as well as to entertain, Kirwan Kelley clearly demonstrates appreciation of having come of age in Dorchester. She is, and always will be, a Dorchester Girl at heart.

"Romantic, suspenseful, and witty all at once—Alice in Wonderland meets Neverwhere."—Claudia Gray, New York Times bestselling author of the Evernight series In Selkie's family, you don't celebrate birthdays. You don't talk about birthdays. And you never, ever reveal your birth date. Until now. On Selkie's seventeenth birthday, Selkie finally understands why. All she wanted a simple "Happy Birthday" from her secret crush, Ben. But the instant she blurts out the truth, her whole world shatters. Because the world she's known is only an elaborate enchantment designed to conceal the truth: Selkie is a half-faerie princess. And her mother wants her dead. The faerie court believes Selkie is a child of prophecy—fated to destroy the court's powerful grip on the supernatural world. And the only way for Selkie to survive...is to prove them right.

The lessons author Gerard Healy learned growing up in Bostons neighborhood of Dorchester prepared him well for the life that followed. His parents, teachers, kind neighbors, true friends, and the culture of Dorchester provided Healy with a solid base of values. Trial and error would fill in the gaps. The stories in Originally from Dorchester narrate the good, the bad, and beauty of life there in the mid-60s. A story of place and time, it chronicles a young boys struggle for identity against the competing forces of peer and gang pressure. A predominantly Irish working-class neighborhood, Dorchester held everything including brutal street fighters, true friends, intimidating nuns, and protective neighbors. Carrying the spirit of adventure with him always, Originally from Dorchester shares the lessons learned from family and friends that Healy has carried with him as hes roamed far beyond the towns borders. It explores the complex relationships of adolescent peers, the struggle to break free of intimidating violence, and the saving value of friendship.

Intimate, unbiased portraits of teenage girls in their bedrooms, investigating notions of identity and the move from child to adult.

"Makes an excellent case for Parrott as an unjustly forgotten historical figure."—The New Yorker "Remind[s] us of the brazenly talented women sidelined by convention."—New York Times The riveting biography of Ursula Parrott—best-selling author, Hollywood screenwriter, and voice for the modern woman. Credited with popularizing the label "ex-wife" in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best sellers, Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Part biography, part cultural history, Becoming the Ex-Wife establishes Parrott's rightful place in twentieth-century American culture, uncovering her neglected work and keen insights into American women's lives during a period of immense social change. Although she was frequently dismissed as a "woman's writer," reading Parrott's writing today makes it clear that she was a trenchant philosopher of modernity—her work was prescient, anticipating issues not widely raised until decades after her decline into obscurity. With elegant wit and a deft command of the archive, Marsha Gordon tells a timely story about the life of a woman on the front lines of a culture war that is still raging today.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book analyzes Black women's involvement in American political life, focusing on what they did to gain political power between 1961 and 2001, and why, in many cases, they did not succeed.