Showing results by narrator "Julia Farhat" in All Categories

An Amish girl, Esther feels like "one black bird against the sky" in her plain clothes. So when she's forced to attend public school she's terrified. She fears the new world she must enter, fears the way she sticks out next to other kids, and--most of all--fears she may do what her brother did: Run away and join the sinful but great wide world she's only just discovering.

Evie is different. Not just her upbringing - though that's certainly been unusual - but also her mindset. She's smart, independent, confident, opinionated, and ready to take on a new challenge: The Institution of School. It doesn't take this homeschooled kid long to discover that high school is a whole new world, and not in the way she expected. It's also a social minefield, and Evie finds herself confronting new problems at every turn, failing to follow or even understand the rules, and proposing solutions that aren't welcome or accepted.

Vison the mink has fought for everything—food, shelter, survival—almost from birth. The largest of his litter, he bullied his smaller sisters and was the first to venture out of the den. Returning home after hunting one day, Vison and his mother are cornered by Urocyon the gray fox. With no way out, Vison’s mother attacks the fox with full force, allowing Vison to escape. Back in the den, the mink kits wait for their mother, but she does not return. Bored with his weak sisters, Vison abandons them and leaves the den for good.

Piper’s world is dying. Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles which threaten to destroy the Earth. Amid this Global Heating Crisis, Piper lives under the oppressive rule of her mother, who suffocates her even more than the weather does. Everything changes on her eighteenth birthday, when her mother is called away on a mysterious errand and Piper seizes her first opportunity for freedom. Piper discovers a universe she never knew existed—a sphere of gods and monsters—and realizes that her world is not the only one in crisis.

Being a twent-ysomething is so much more than being a wayward, post-adolescent, wide-eyed emotional basket case. For the first time in our lives, independence and all that it embodies is hitting us full force and mercilessly. From the death of best friends to lost first loves to drained bank accounts to survived sexual encounters, the unending facets of humanity comprise the twentysomething experience. It's fleeting and confusing and beautiful and devastating and, thankfully, it's been written down.

There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies, and prophecy. Kim thought majoring in divination would prepare her for the future. But even with her foresight warning her of trouble, she’s taken by surprise when an unknown force attacks Julian, her enigmatic classmate and friend. Her gifts can’t protect him against further attacks and an inexplicable string of disappearances . . . and if she’s reading the omens right, Julian isn’t the only one in danger. Kim knows she isn't ready for this.

Big changes are afoot for Love Bukowski. Just when she meets her half-sister for the first time in Los Angeles, she gets a call from her long-lost mother and hops a plane back to Martha’s Vineyard. Love is ready to embrace the new and exciting steps toward her senior year - but in Massachusetts, she finds more than she bargained for. Her mom is still not there, her boyfriend, Charlie, has changed from a down-to-earth guy into someone she’s not sure she knows anymore, and her old flame Jacob is wearing his heart on his short-sleeved tee.

Erin Wrenn and her friend David are in big trouble because they refuse to go on a field trip to the Glitter Tent Circus. They wrote a report on the sad lives of circus animals, and discovered that the Glitter Tent Circus is one of the worst animal abusers of all. Mrs. Dawson is determined to give her students the happy circus experience she remembers from her childhood; she won't let Erin and David share their report or pass around a petition asking for a different field trip.

Love Bukowski is finally in London! Her term abroad at the London Academy of Drama and Music promises to be anything but average. After leaving Hadley Hall - as well as her dad, who’s got a new girlfriend, and her beloved Aunt Mable, who is fighting serious health issues - Love faces a new set of challenges across the pond: Voice lessons, keeping up with Arabella and her new friends, and falling for a Brit who is completely off limits.

Springtime blooms, but for Love Bukowski, life at home is chilly. After an incredible semester at the London Academy of Drama and Music, Love Bukowski is back at Hadley Hall. Unfortunately, it feels as though her fabulous British life (and boyfriend) are on hold. Love wants only to be at Aunt Mable’s side during her fight with breast cancer. But Love’s English boyfriend, Asher, suddenly doesn’t seem to want to talk to her, and her ex-boyfriend Jacob has popped back into her life. Love’s dad is struggling with the way she’s changed (i.e., grown up), and Aunt Mable has new information about Love’s mysterious mother.

For Love Bukowski, summer's over and school is about to begin. But it seems like Love's going it alone: Her aunt Mable has been acting weird, her dad (who happens to be principal of the school) is preoccupied, her ex is pouting in Europe, and her former friend Cordelia has bonded with the evil Lindsay Parrish. Enter Arabella Piece, the new exchange student from London, who's staying with Love and has some secrets of her own. Love’s summer may have called it a wrap, but her fall semester dramas have just begun.

Love Bukowski is a new sophomore at Hadley Hall, the posh prep school where her father is now principal. Raised by her single dad (with more than a little help from her funky aunt Mable), almost-sixteen-year-old Love is strong willed, with a wry sense of humor - but will she fit into the world of Hadley Hall? In the made-for-TV version of her life, she’s got cool friends and hot guys galore. But being a "fac brat" makes new friends hard to come by, and the guys - well, that remains to be seen. Now Love's got to step it up if she's going to overcome her less-than-glamorous reality and get that walk-on role in her own fantasies.

Charlie Day fell in love with Jackson Stiles a long time ago. But that was before he and her brother enlisted and went to Iraq. Before Jackson came back different. Before they told Charlie her brother would never come back at all. A lot of things have changed since then. But when Jackson takes a job at the company where Charlie works, she discovers that one thing hasn't changed - the spark between them. She's not sure she can love this new Jackson, or forgive him for the part he played in her brother's death.

Frustrated divorcée Amy Warren is striving to fix her life by helping her hometown buy the local mill, and then she can put her Plan for the Rest of Her Life in action by buying a rundown cottage and turning it into her heart’s desire. Amy’s plan shatters when Jean-Jacques St. Etienne arrives with loads of cash, charisma, and expertise, with every intention of buying the mill for its designs and then abandoning the community. A European playboy, he has no interest in anything except staying occupied so he needn’t remember the tragedy haunting him.

Award-winning photographer and author of My Last Supper Melanie Dunea traces the through-lines from country music’s gritty roots to the chart-topping chanteuses of today. My Country presents beautiful, imaginative, and revealing depictions of icons ranging from Taylor Swift to Wynonna Judd to Little Jimmy Dickens alongside interviews that reveal the stars’ musical roots and inspirations, their defining moments, and what makes country music the heart and soul of America.

Pink Angels and best friends Holly, Raina, and Kathleen have been through a lot over the past year. The summer before their senior year promises to be busy but fun, as Holly and Raina return to their full-time volunteer jobs at the hospital and Kathleen, who needs the money, works at the hospital gift shop. Of course, Raina and Kathleen will be spending as much time as possible with their boyfriends, Hunter and Carson. Holly is happy for her friends, but she can’t help feeling a little left out when hanging out with the two couples.

It's the summer after sophomore year and Raina has convinced her best friends since the sixth grade, Kathleen and Holly, to spend their summer as "pink angels" in Parker-Sloan General Hospital's summer volunteer program. Kathleen is reluctant to do it - she has enough responsibility at home caring for her sick mother. But when she meets Carson, a cute and flirty fellow volunteer, she is happy that she joined the program. Or, at least, she thinks she is.

Pink Angels and best friends Holly, Raina, and Kathleen have been through a lot over the past year. The summer before their senior year promises to be busy but fun, as Holly and Raina return to their full-time volunteer jobs at the hospital and Kathleen, who needs the money, works at the hospital gift shop. Of course, Raina and Kathleen will be spending as much time as possible with their boyfriends, Hunter and Carson. Holly is happy for her friends, but she can’t help feeling a little left out when hanging out with the two couples.

Emily is ready for a change. She's been in the same town with the same friends for a long time...and none of them really understand her art. But when she goes to Philadelphia for a summer art institute, she suddenly finds like-minded people. One in particular, Fiona, intrigues and challenges her. But there are some things Emily is going to have to find out for herself - like what the balance is between life and art, and which is more important when push comes to shove.

Gertrude Bell had a dream - to unite the thousands of tribal clans in Arabia into a single great nation. Putting her political brilliance and deep cultural knowledge of Arabia to the ultimate test, she developed a plan to do just that. But with the onset of The War to End All Wars, her success rests not only on stubborn politicians who believe a woman’s true place is in the kitchen, but on the Arabic tribes setting aside their differences and fighting as one for freedom. As political bargaining and intrigue threaten to unravel her plans at the seams, Gertrude begins to doubt whether this once-great nation will ever rise to glory again….