“Robert Westbrook’s novel strips the gilt off the Hollywood Golden Age to reveal the seamier underside. The Torch Singer begins with an ending, a scene of murder and mayhem on St. Valentine’s Night in 1956 Beverly Hills and unravels the many and various threads of the lives and careers that took them there.” Time Out The Torch Singer is a sweeping historical saga that takes the reader from the horrors of Nazi-occupied Poland to the glittery excesses of Hollywood in the 1940’s and 50’s: the rise and fall of Sonya Saint-Amant, a singer who schemes her way to fame and glory breaking all the rules. Book One, An Overnight Sensation, charts the rise of Sonya from the age of 17 in 1940, a girl dreaming of being an understudy at the Krakow Opera when Nazis raid the theater. After witnessing the summary execution of her mother by German soldiers she escapes Poland and makes her way to London. Using guile and beauty, she finds passage to America in 1943 on the Mauretania, a dangerous North Atlantic crossing on a troop ship full of men. As the ship steams north into Arctic waters evading enemy submarines, Sonya almost wins at a high-stakes game of love . . . only to arrive in New York alone and desperate but determined to become a star. “A masterpiece of storytelling. A book of constant intrigue which from the outset creates that delicious paradox of it being immediately clear that nothing is ever quite as it seems.” Daily Mail “Robert Westbrook is a born storyteller and a bit of a magician.” Ally Sheedy The Torch Singer is an unforgettable journey through the shadowlands of fame.

Heres a copy of Jimmys resume taken from his YT channel, theloveman11378, no job too small or too big he wont tackle even if it kills you: Author, grave digger, prize fighter, military man, private dick, fire fighter, repo man, bank robber, hit man, singer, drummer, trapeze artist, tight rope walker, con man, ventriloquist, tango, mambo, & meringue instructor, secret agent man, midget wrestler, rapper, bass man, professional auditioner, mooner for hire, miner for gold, wheeler/dealer, organ stealer, pole dancer, cowboy, counterfeiter, American Idol wannabe, your man, and whatever else you want me to be People ask me what do I do for a living, that would take all day but I can say I was once a king of the road, a hobo by trade, a man of the street. School, sure, school of hard knocks and I got plenty of lumps to prove it. I would hop on trains and have been from the east coast to the west coast about 25 times and I do know all the trains in between. Ive been known to have sticky fingers. I pick not only locks but old stogies, you know, cigarette buds off the ground and Ive done it all from pushing broom to pot washing and digging graves but I rather not talk about that cos I never heard of dumping 3 or 4 bodies into the same pit. If you see me coming step aside cos if you dont I will send you to the promise land. Hey enjoy Roger Miller he too is a hobo like me, a King Of The Road, ciao Jimmy

New to This Edition --

This leading text offers a comprehensive, richly nuanced, and authoritative introduction to European geography. Coverage encompasses the entire region: its physical setting and environment, population and migration, languages and religions, and political organization. Particular attention is given to historic and contemporary features of the diverse urban environments in which most Europeans live, work, and play. Combining vivid description, essential information, and cogent analysis, the text is illustrated with more than 200 photographs and 64 maps. New to This Edition*Fully updated to reflect ongoing changes in this dynamic region.*Expanded coverage of timely topics such as emissions and energy policy, aging of the population, migration, religiosity and secularization, ethnonationalism, health care, popular culture, and the future of the European Union.*Engaging vignettes in every chapter on European places, cultural issues, and daily life.*Over 45 new photographs and maps.

In this widely praised history, noted scholar James D. Tracy offers a comprehensive, lucid, and masterful exploration of early modern Europe's key turning point. Establishing a new standard for histories of the Reformation, Tracy explores the complex religious, political, and social processes that made change possible, even as he synthesizes new understandings of the profound continuities between medieval Catholic Europe and the multi-confessional sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This revised edition includes new material on Eastern Europe, on how ordinary people experienced religious change, and on the pluralistic societies that began to emerge. Reformation scholars have in recent decades dismantled brick by brick the idea that the Middle Ages came to an abrupt end in 1517. Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses fitted into an ongoing debate about how Christians might better understand the Gospel and live its teachings more faithfully. Tracy shows how Reformation-era religious conflicts tilted the balance in church-state relations in favor of the latter, so that the secular power was able to dictate the doctrinal loyalty of its subjects. Religious reform, Catholic as well as Protestant, reinforced the bonds of community, while creating new divisions within towns, villages, neighborhoods, and families. In some areas these tensions were resolved by allowing citizens to profess loyalty both to their separate religious communities and to an overarching body-politic. This compromise, a product of the Reformations, though not willed by the reformers, was the historical foundation of modern, pluralistic society. Richly illustrated and elegantly written, this book belongs in the library of all scholars, students, and general readers interested in the origins, events, and legacy of Europe's Reformation.

This is a comprehensive, illustrated book about one of the most enduringly popular forms of music. Combining biography, critical analysis, and detailed reference sections, it profiles all the major heavy metal artists as well as a huge selection of other niche acts from around the world. Metal: The Definitive Guide includes new firsthand interviews with many major metal musicians and detailed discographies. It is the definitive metal encyclopedia.The over 300 illustrations in this book encompass fantastic including artist pictures and memorabilia such as posters, ticket stubs, and much more.

With the smash success of contemporary vampire stories such as “Twilight” and the explosion of Young Adult vampire books, this graphic nonfiction compendium brings readers back to the folkloric origins of these macabre tales and the semi-historical sources for vampire mythology. Collecting three lesser known but deeply chilling vampire stories from seventeenth century England, eighteenth century Serbia, and nineteenth century Rhode Island, this book draws the reader into a world of shadows, suspense, menace, and pure terror. Vividly illustrated in rich, saturated colors and almost unnervingly atmospheric, these stories remind readers of just how dangerous the vampires of ancient legend were. They were indeed a far cry from the sensitive and serenely beautiful, angst-ridden adolescent versions popular today. Chilling and hair-raising tales told in artfully wrought full-color graphic panels, coupled with scrupulous historical, cultural, and sociological context, this book is a treasure trove of fascinating and frightening folklore.