Audio book descriptionPost-war England is gripped by Coronation fever. At The Palace, a grand hotel owned for generations by the King family, the eldest daughter, Libby, looks forward to the new era with excitement as she prepares to host her first function as the proprietor. As the citizens of Kingshaven gather for The Palace's Coronation party, events are set in motion that have consequences stretching far into the future. From the New Look to the mini-skirt, from flower arranging to flower-power, The Time of Our Lives follows the events of a town whose events seem to reflect the history of the nation.
Audio book descriptionIn this short story from Nathan Englander's collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, a mental patient tries to get help from a rabbi to smooth over family problems his manic episodes cause.
Audio book descriptionSo far, it had been a typical New Year's Eve house party. But Mr. Satterthwaite, a keen observer of human nature, sensed that the real drama of the evening was yet to unfold. So it proved when a mysterious stranger arrived after midnight. Who was this Mr. Quin? And why did his presence have such a pronounced effect on Eleanor Portal, the woman with the dyed-black hair?
Audio book descriptionNew York Times best-selling author Jane Smiley, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award, produces her version of a Hollywood novel by using Boccaccio's Decameron as her model. Oscar-winning writer-director Max, whose star is clearly beginning to dim, wakes up the morning after the 2003 Academy Awards lying next to his lover and feeling understandably groggy from the previous evening's festivities. But this is no time for Max to lounge about and chat his way idly through a hangover. There's a houseful of guests to worry about, and they all need attention. Here is a book full of everything one would expect in a tale about the Tinseltown glitterati: sex, politics, war, love, and the stories people tell. Ten Days in the Hills is a Hollywood yarn as only Smiley could deliver.
