Blindfold

Blindfold
Title Blindfold PDF eBook
Author Theo Padnos
Publisher Simon and Schuster
Pages 400
Release 2021-02-16
Genre Biography & Autobiography
ISBN 1982120843

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An award-winning journalist’s extraordinary account of being kidnapped and tortured in Syria by al Qaeda for two years—a revelatory memoir about war, human nature, and endurance that’s “the best of the genre, profound, poetic, and sorrowful” (The Atlantic). In 2012, American journalist Theo Padnos, fluent in Arabic, Russian, German, and French, traveled to a Turkish border town to write and report on the Syrian civil war. One afternoon in October, while walking through an olive grove, he met three young Syrians—who turned out to be al Qaeda operatives—and they captured him and kept him prisoner for nearly two years. On his first day, in the first of many prisons, Padnos was given a blindfold—a grime-stained scrap of fabric—that was his only possession throughout his horrific ordeal. Now, Padnos recounts his time in captivity in Syria, where he was frequently tortured at the hands of the al Qaeda affiliate, Jebhat al Nusra. We learn not only about Padnos’s harrowing experience, but we also get a firsthand account of life in a Syrian village, the nature of Islamic prisons, how captors interrogate someone suspected of being CIA, the ways that Islamic fighters shift identities and drift back and forth through the veil of Western civilization, and much more. No other journalist has lived among terrorists for as long as Theo has—and survived. As a resident of thirteen separate prisons in every part of rebel-occupied Syria, Theo witnessed a society adrift amid a steady stream of bombings, executions, torture, prayer, fasting, and exhibitions, all staged by the terrorists. Living within this tide of violence changed not only his personal identity but also profoundly altered his understanding of how to live. Offering fascinating, unprecedented insight into the state of Syria today, Blindfold is “a triumph of the human spirit” (The New York Times Book Review)—combining the emotional power of a captive’s memoir with a journalist’s account of a culture and a nation in conflict that is as urgent and important as ever.

Cherished Belonging

Cherished Belonging
Title Cherished Belonging PDF eBook
Author Gregory Boyle
Publisher Simon and Schuster
Pages 224
Release 2024-11-05
Genre Biography & Autobiography
ISBN 1668061856

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At a time when society is more fractured than ever before, beloved Jesuit priest Gregory Boyle invites us to see the world through a new lens of connection and build the loving community that we long to live in—a perfect message for readers of Anne Lamott, Mary Oliver, and Richard Rohr. Over the past thirty years, Gregory Boyle has transformed thousands of lives through his work as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the world. The program runs on two unwavering principles: (1) Everyone is unshakably good (no exceptions) and (2) we belong to each other (no exceptions). Boyle believes that these two ideas allow all of us to cultivate a new way of seeing. Every community wants to be a safe place, where people are seen, and then are cherished. By remembering that we belong to each other, we find our way out of chaos and its dispiriting tribalism. Pooka, a former gang member who now oversees the program’s housing division, puts it plainly: “Here, love is our lens. It’s how we see things.” In Cherished Belonging, Boyle calls back to Christianity’s origins as a subversive spiritual movement of equality, emancipation, and peace. Early Christianity was a way of life—not a set of beliefs. Boyle’s vision of community isn’t just a space for an individual to heal, but for people to join together and heal each other in a new collective living, a world dedicated to kindness as a constant and radical act of defiance. “The answer to every question is, indeed, compassion,” Boyle exhorts. He calls us to cherish and nurture the connections that are all around us and live with radical kindness.

Falling in Deeper

Falling in Deeper
Title Falling in Deeper PDF eBook
Author Shayla Black
Publisher Penguin
Pages 338
Release 2016-07-05
Genre Fiction
ISBN 0698164008

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A tragic past threatens to destroy a passionate future in this dangerously sexy new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Wicked for You. After a violent tragedy nearly destroyed her, Lily Taylor ran away, changed her name, and started over. When her deadly nemesis resurfaces to eliminate his loose end, she turns to the last man she should trust—a stranger with a history of violence and an intoxicating sexuality she can’t refuse… Though strong-armed into locating Lily to help put away a drug lord, ex-con Stone Sutter isn’t anyone’s snitch. When he finds the terrified beauty, he vows to keep her safe—but he isn’t sure he has the strength to shield her from his own desires. As an unquenchable fire sparks between them, Lily’s tormentor stalks ever closer, and she must overcome her darkest fear to survive. Can she trust the bond she and Stone have formed as they’re falling in deeper?

Morningside Fall

Morningside Fall
Title Morningside Fall PDF eBook
Author Jay Posey
Publisher Watkins Media Limited
Pages 665
Release 2014-04-29
Genre Fiction
ISBN 0857663674

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Traitors and lethal cyborgs threaten all of humanity in this gritty sci-fi adventure for fans of post-apocalyptic zombie fiction The lone gunman Three is gone. Wren is the new governor of the devastated settlement of Morningside, but there is turmoil in the city. When his life is put in danger, Wren is forced to flee Morningside until he and his retinue can determine who can be trusted. They arrive at a border outpost to find it has been infested with Weir in greater numbers than anyone has ever seen. These lost, dangerous creatures are harboring a terrible secret—one that will have consequences not just for Wren and his comrades, but for the future of what remains of the world. New threats need new heroes . . .

Daddy's Obsession

Daddy's Obsession
Title Daddy's Obsession PDF eBook
Author Rory Reynolds
Publisher Rory Reynolds
Pages 260
Release
Genre Fiction
ISBN

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I swore off all relationships. One night is all I promised. A single night for him to dominate my body. What I didn’t know before he took me over his knee is that he’s my new boss. My tempting, irresistible boss. Now, there's no going back. I’m Oliver Titan’s obsession, and he always gets what he wants. Note: Daddy’s Obsession is a full-length daddy dom insta-love romance with a guaranteed happily ever after.

Fall from Grace

Fall from Grace
Title Fall from Grace PDF eBook
Author Megan Chance
Publisher Megan Chance
Pages 153
Release 2011-07-30
Genre Fiction
ISBN 1936632071

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Lily lost her childhood the day the Sharpe gang murdered her parents and “adopted” her. Soon, she was “Lily the Cat,” a wanted outlaw herself, ruthless and smart. But Lily bided her time and planned her revenge, betraying them all and making her escape, running for the life that should have been hers.But she reckoned without Texas Sharpe, the man who loved her, married her and defied his father for her. And Texas was about to show Lily just how ruthless a man betrayed could be....

The Last Heir

The Last Heir
Title The Last Heir PDF eBook
Author Chuck Greaves
Publisher Macmillan + ORM
Pages 273
Release 2014-06-24
Genre Fiction
ISBN 1466844329

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Philippe Giroux, estimable patriarch of the Château Giroux wine empire, has tragically lost a son. Or has he? Once confirmed by the court, Alain Giroux's death will pave the way for his brother Phil to inherit America's most storied winery. Or will it? Andy Clarkson, Alain's boyhood chum, covets the Château Giroux vineyard acreage for his neighboring golf resort. Or does he? Claudia Giroux, Philippe's hauntingly beautiful daughter, has proof that Alain's death may not have been all that it seems. Or does she? As the scions of a privileged California wine dynasty grapple for control of their family's legacy, attorney Jack MacTaggart is caught in a cross fire of estrangement, betrayal, and murder. To complicate matters, Jack is being shadowed by film star Ethan Scott, who hopes to spin the dross of a family's private travails into box-office gold. Amid the stately oaks and sylvan vineyards of California's fabled Napa Valley, Jack learns the hard way that while blood may be thicker than water, money is a powerful anticoagulant. As the long-buried secrets of a troubled family are finally revealed, only one question remains to be answered: Who will survive to become the Last Heir?