The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics)

<br />The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics)


Product ASIN:

0143107429

Product Description

Move over, Cinderella: Make way for the Turnip Princess! And also for the “Cinderfellas” in these tales that turn our understanding of gender in fairy tales on its head.

A rare discovery in the world of fairy tales—now for the first time in English

With this volume, the holy trinity of fairy tales—the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, and Hans Christian Andersen—becomes a quartet. In the 1850s, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth traversed the forests, lowlands, and mountains of northern Bavaria to record fairy tales, gaining the admiration of even the Brothers Grimm. Most of Schönwerth's work was lost—until a few years ago, when thirty boxes of manu­scripts were uncovered in a German municipal archive. Now, for the first time, Schönwerth's lost fairy tales are available in English. Violent, dark, and full of action, and upending the relationship between damsels in distress and their dragon-slaying heroes, these more than seventy stories bring us closer than ever to the unadorned oral tradition in which fairy tales are rooted, revolutionizing our understanding of a hallowed genre.

For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #1838 in Books
  • Published on: 2015-02-24
  • Released on: 2015-02-24
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 7.72" h x .73" w x 5.07" l, 1.00 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 288 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review
“Bawdier, racier and significantly more scatological than the collection the Grimms published.” —Laura Miller, Salon

“This stunning fairy-tale find is grimmer than Grimm. . . . Here is real treasure. Just watch out for the witch.” —The Washington Post

“Schönwerth’s tales have a compositional fierceness and energy rarely seen in stories gathered by the Brothers Grimm or Charles Perrault.” —The New Yorker

“In the hands of renowned folklorist and scholar Maria Tatar, these seventy-two stories come to life with a snappy matter-of-factness, racing with palpable energy through fantasy landscapes that always feel close to home.” —NPR.org

“[This] new collection of German folk stories . . . challenges preconceptions about many of the most commonly known fairytales. . . . Many of the stories centre around surprisingly emancipated female characters.” —The Guardian

“Schönwerth’s legacy counts as the most significant collection in the German-speaking world in the nineteenth century.” —Daniel Drascek, University of Regensburg

“These eminently enjoyable tales offer a rich new take on the material of the Grimms and Andersen. . . . The tales are vigorous, direct, and less artful then those of the Grimms, suggesting greater authenticity, closer to the source.” —Library Journal

About the Author

FRANZ XAVER VON SCHÖNWERTH (1810–1886) had a successful career in law and the Bavarian royal court before devoting himself full-time to cataloging the customs and folktales of his homeland.

ERIKA EICHENSEER is the director of the Franz Xaver von Schönwerth Society. She lives in Germany.

MARIA TATAR is the chair of the program in folklore and mythology at Harvard. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

PENGUIN CLASSICS

THE TURNIP PRINCESS

FRANZ XAVER VON SCHÖNWERTH (1810–1886) was born in Amberg, Bavaria. He had a successful career in law and the Bavarian royal court, rising to the post of personal secretary to the Crown Prince Maximilian. In the 1850s he began to explore the culture of the Upper Palatinate region of Bavaria, recording his observations and the stories of the people he interviewed. Eventually he devoted himself full-time to his collection and, between 1857 and 1859, published From the Upper Palatinate: Customs and Legends, cataloging the customs and folktales of his homeland in unprecedented detail. This work contained only a fraction of his total research, the rest of which was eventually discovered in an archive, forming an important addition to the canon of classic fairy tales.

ERIKA EICHENSEER discovered five hundred previously unknown fairy tales of Franz Xaver von Schönwerth in the municipal archive of Regensburg, Bavaria, in 2009. In 2010 she published a selection entitled Prinz Roßzwifl [Prince Dung Beetle]. She began her career as a teacher, then worked for the cultural department of the regional government of East Bavaria. An expert on fairy tales and on puppet theater, she has written numerous books on folk art and customs and has appeared on television, produced radio programs, and performed all over Bavaria as a storyteller. She is co-founder and director of the Schönwerth Society and initiator of the Schönwerth Fairytale Path in Sinzing, near Regensburg, and she wrote the libretto for a musical based on Schönwerth’s “The Flying Chest.” She has been awarded many honors for her services to Bavarian culture.

MARIA TATAR chairs the program in folklore and mythology at Harvard. She is the author of many acclaimed books on folklore and fairy tales, as well as the editor and translator of The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, The Classic Fairy Tales: A Norton Critical Edition, and The Grimm Reader. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

ENGELBERT SÜSS is a well-known sculptor, glass-artist, and illustrator who was born in 1949 in eastern Bavaria. He created the bronze statue King of Dwarfs for the Schönwerth Fairytale Path in Sinzing, Bavaria.

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First published in Penguin Books 2015

Selection and foreword copyright © 2015 by Erika Eichenseer

Translation, introduction and commentary copyright © 2015 by Maria Tatar

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

Maria Tatar’s translation of “The Turnip Princess” was published in The Guardian, March 5, 2012. Ms. Tatar’s translation of “King Goldenlocks” appeared in The New Yorker, issue of April 2, 2012.

ISBN 978-0-698-14455-2

About the Author

Title Page

Copyright

Foreword by ERIKA EICHENSEER

Introduction by MARIA TATAR

Suggestions for Further Reading

PART I: TALES OF MAGIC AND ROMANCE

THE TURNIP PRINCESS

THE ENCHANTED QUILL

THE IRON SHOES

THE WOLVES

THE FLYING TRUNK

KING GOLDENLOCKS

THE BEAUTIFUL SLAVE GIRL

THREE FLOWERS

THE FIGS

THE ENCHANTED MUSKET

THE THREE ABDUCTED DAUGHTERS

THE PORTRAIT

ASHFEATHERS

TWELVE TORTOISES

THUMBNICKEL

HANS THE STRONG MAN

LOUSEHEAD

SEVEN WITH ONE BLOW!

THE BURNING TROUGH

THE KING’S BODYGUARD

THE SCORNED PRINCESS

PART II: ENCHANTED ANIMALS

THE TALKING BIRD, THE SINGING TREE, AND THE SPARKLING STREAM

THE WEASEL

THE KNIGHT’S SASH

THE GIRL AND THE COW

THE CALL OF THE SHEPHERD’S HORN

THE MARK OF THE DOG, PIG, AND CAT

THE THREE-LEGGED GOATS

THE TRAVELING ANIMALS

THE SNAKE’S TREASURE

THE SNAKE SISTER

“FOLLOW ME, JODEL!”

THE TOAD BRIDE

PRINCE DUNG BEETLE

PART III: OTHERWORLDLY CREATURES

THE THREE SPINDLES

THE LITTLE FLAX FLOWER

WOODPECKER

THE RED SILK RIBBON

TWELVE BRIDES

THE HOWLING OF THE WIND

HANS DUDELDEE

THE BELT AND THE NECKLACE

DRUNK WITH LOVE

ANNA MAYALA

IN THE JAWS OF THE MERMAN

THE KING’S RING

THE THREE GOLDEN CROWNS

NINE BAGS OF GOLD

TWO BROTHERS

TRICKING THE WITCH

THE ENCHANTED FIDDLE

THE DEVIL AND THE FISHERMAN

THE EXPERT HUNTER

A POT OF GOLD IN THE OVEN

CONTESTS WITH THE DEVIL

WOUD AND FREID

PART IV: LEGENDS

THE MOUSE CATCHER, OR THE BOY AND THE BEETLE

PEARL TEARS

FLOUR FOR SNOW

HOYDEL

PART V: TALL TALES AND ANECDOTES

THE TALKER

THE CLEVER TAILOR

LEARNING HOW TO STEAL

“DON’T GET MAD!”

OFERLA

PART VI: TALES ABOUT NATURE

SIR WIND AND HIS WIFE

THE ICE GIANTS

WHY SNOW IS WHITE

THE SUN TAKES AN OATH

THE SUN’S SHADOW

WHAT THE MOON TRIED TO WEAR

THE SINGING TREE

Commentary by MARIA TATAR

Notes on Sources and Tale Types NICOLA SCHÄFFLER

“I’m here. Why do you keep rejecting me?”

“Just pull on the nail.”

—“THE TURNIP PRINCESS,” P. 4

Fairy tales are that simple. All you need is a rusty nail, and something that is hidden away, spellbound, and beautiful can be transformed, disenchanted, and reanimated. In real life no one hands us a nail that can lift away all our cares.

The fairy tales collected by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth (1810–1886) seemed to have vanished into thin air. These tales from the Upper Palatinate, the eastern part of Bavaria, were hidden away for a long time.

In 2009, after searching for many years, I made the exhilarating discovery that there were about five hundred fairy tales among the Schönwerth papers stored almost like buried treasure in the municipal archive of the city of Regensburg. The enthusiastic nineteenth-century folklorist and collector of tales had recognized that his era was witnessing a rapid decline in oral storytelling traditions. For that reason, he and his friends made the rounds, asking for stories from plainspoken men and women within the confines of their native territory. At first there was some reluctance to tell tales, but that was followed by eagerness to share. This is oral history in the truest sense of the term.

The social standing of the tellers and the collectors varied widely. In the archival materials there are some linguistically sophisticated texts with romantic flourishes but also some terse and fragmentary drafts, and they all have proven valuable. The tales are particularly colorful and lively when told in the regional dialect.

This book will fill a gap in German-speaking countries and in the global fairy tales landscape, appealing to readers young and old. And it is also directed at scholars who will be able to evaluate, analyze, and honor this particular selection of tales from the archive of a collector and researcher who was something of a pioneer. The door has been unlocked, and now it can swing wide open.

“No one in Germany has gathered tales so thoughtfully and thoroughly and with such finesse.” This observation about Schönwerth made in 1858 by Jacob Grimm can be seen as a tribute, an acknowledgment, and a commitment to pay attention to an important message about nature and how it is animated by marvelous creatures as well as about how the magical and the natural blend into each other.

Let me close with one additional thought. Storytelling is an ancient art that rarely receives the respect it deserves. Is it even possible to find someone these days with the time to give something precious to listeners, who understands stories at a profound level and can tell them without a book or a page in hand?

“A world without fairy tales and myths would be as drab as life without music.”

—GEORG TRAKL

ERIKA EICHENSEER

When the British press reported in 2012 that five hundred unknown fairy tales, languishing for more than a century in the municipal archive of Regensburg, Germany, had come to light, the news sent a flutter through the world of fairy-tale enthusiasts, their interest further piqued by the detail that the tales—which had been compiled in the mid-nineteenth century by a man named Franz Xaver von Schönwerth—had been kept under lock and key. Victoria Sussens-Messerer, the author of the article published in the Guardian, created an unanticipated sensation, reminding us of the powerful global and cross-generational reach of these tales. A fairy tale soon emerged about mysterious treasures locked up and released at last, but the tale of how Schönwerth’s fairy tales came to see the light of day has more to do with determination and detective work than with magic. Erika Eichenseer, a resident of the city, opened thirty dusty cardboard boxes of Schönwerth’s tales and turned them into fairy-tale gold by reading, sorting, transcribing, and providing context for them. She has labored tirelessly in the service of these tales to ensure that they find their place in the folkloric pantheon. And now, with this English translation, a broader audience will have access to tales that possess a uniquely local narrative energy and provide a strong comparative basis for understanding the quirks of stories collected by the Brothers Grimm, whose tales became the dominant player in the global fairy-tale market.

Franz Xaver von Schönwerth was inspired by the Grimms, less by their best-known compendium, Children’s Stories and Household Tales, than by their German Mythology, which a friend gave to him in 1835. Born in 1810 in the small Bavarian town of Amberg, Schönwerth studied architecture before settling into his legal studies and becoming a high-level civil servant, working first as a secretary to Maximilian II of Bavaria, and then in the Bavarian Finance Ministry. A man whom the Brothers Grimm praised for his “fine ear” and accuracy as a collector, he published three volumes of folk customs and legends in the mid-nineteenth century (Aus der Oberpfalz: Sitten und Sagen), but the books did little more than gather dust in bookshops. Like the Brothers Grimm, Schönwerth was an equal-opportunity collector, less intent on finding a source close to the soil, as it were, than a story with real zest. The task was challenging in many ways, for as Schönwerth noted, few took his project seriously.

Why would a high-level government official pay any attention to frivolous storytelling pursuits? How could he possibly take them seriously? Schönwerth found the trivialization of folk culture in his Munich surroundings discouraging: “I did not have an easy task . . . since I had to search out compatriots here in Munich and subject them to something of an inquisition. At home, women and weavers were easy to bribe with small gifts and treats, and they regaled me with stories, gladly in large part because I was the first one to talk with them in the regional dialect.”

Schönwerth needed vast amounts of patience to secure what he wanted from other informants: “These people can’t seem to get it through their heads that a scholar might actually be interested in their ‘stupidities’ [Dummheiten], and they begin to worry that you are just trying to make them look like fools.” Long before Disney, folktales were seen as lacking the kind of substance that might make them worthy of scholarly attention. They had already begun to make the great migration from the childhood of culture into the culture of childhood, now as tales of Mother Goose, old wives’ tales, or, worse yet, fairy tales—what the Grimms called Kindermärchen.

Schönwerth’s tales have a compositional fierceness and energy rarely seen in stories gathered by the Brothers Grimm or Charles Perrault, collectors who gave us relatively tame versions of “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Snow White,” “Cinderella,” and “Rapunzel.” Schönwerth gives us a harsher dose of reality. His Cinderella is a woodcutter’s daughter who uses golden slippers to recover her beloved from beyond the moon and the sun. His miller’s daughter wields an ax and uses it to disenchant a prince by whacking off the tail of a gigantic black cat. The stories remain untouched by literary sensibilities. No throat-clearing for Schönwerth, who begins in medias res, with “A princess was ill” or “A prince was lost in the woods,” rather than “Once upon a time.”

Though he was inspired by the Grimms, Schönwerth was more invested in the local than in the global. If the Grimms wanted to preserve remnants of a collective pagan past and to consolidate national identity by preserving in print rapidly fading cultural stories, Schönwerth was committed to documenting the oral traditions of his beloved Bavarian homeland. This explains the rough-hewn quality of his tales, many of which were written down in the native dialect. Not one to dress up a tale with literary flourishes or to make it more child friendly, Schönwerth kept the raw energy of the tales, resisting the temptation to motivate surreal plot twists or to smooth out inconsistencies. Oral narratives famously neglect psychology for plot, and these tales move with warp speed out of the castle and into the woods, generating multiple encounters with ogres, dragons, witches, and other villains, leaving almost no room for expressive asides or details explaining how or why things happen. The driving question is always “And then?”

Our own culture, under the spell of Grimm and Perrault, has favored fairy tales starring girls rather than boys, princesses rather than princes. But Schönwerth’s stories show us that once upon a time, Cinderfellas evidently suffered right alongside Cinderellas, and handsome young men fell into slumbers nearly as deep as Briar Rose’s hundred-year nap. Just as girls became domestic drudges and suffered under the curse of evil mothers and stepmothers, boys, too, served out terms as gardeners and servants, sometimes banished into the woods by hostile fathers. Like Snow White, they had to plead with a hunter for their lives. And they are as good as they are beautiful—Schönwerth uses the German term schön, or beautiful, for both male and female protagonists. And time and again they are required to prove their mettle by sleeping in a Gothic castle of horrors. Here, too, we suddenly find clustered together the giant-killers and dragon slayers missing from the Grimms. The rescue of sleeping beauties after slaying nine-headed dragons and outwitting giants is repeated with mantra-like faith in the possibility of the little guy triumphing over the colossus.

Why did we lose all those male counterparts to Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and the girl who becomes the wife of the Frog King? Boy heroes clearly had a hard time surviving the nineteenth-century migration of fairy tales from the communal hearth into the nursery, when oral storytelling traditions, under the pressures of urbanization and industrialization, lost their cross-generational appeal. Once mothers, nannies, and domestics were in charge of telling stories at bedtime, they favored tales with heroines. Schönwerth’s collection may have appeared in print later than the Grimms’ Children’s Stories and Household Tales, but it gives us in many ways a culture of oral storytelling that is pre-Grimm.

The Brothers Grimm may have been wary of telling stories of persecuted boys, having suffered much in their own early lives. It is no accident that we refer these days to Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm almost as if they were a couple. The brothers lost their father at a young age and worked hard to educate themselves and to keep their fragile family intact. They studied law together and worked side by side for decades, taking notes, copying manuscripts, editing texts, and famously creating index card entries for their monumental dictionary of the German language. Is it any surprise that they might have found tales about quarreling brothers or male-sibling rivals less than congenial? Schönwerth’s collection reminds us that fathers are constantly sending no-account sons into the world to seek their fortune and that they are generally relieved to rid themselves of an extra mouth to feed. Brothers stand in a relationship of rivalry, fighting over farms or kingdoms and betraying each other in ways that hark back to the biblical cruelties of Joseph’s brothers. Schönwerth gives us unvarnished versions of these tales, uninhibited in their expression of parental indifference and cruelty and of fraternal rivalry and hatred.

The briskness of Schönwerth’s style becomes clear in a tale like “King Goldenlocks.” The adventures of the fair-haired prince bring together bits and pieces from “The Frog King,” “Snow White,” and “The Water of Life” to create kaleidoscopic wonders. The tale reminds us of the wizardry of words in fairy tales, and how those words create worlds of shimmering beauty and enchanting whimsy. Who can avoid feeling the shock effects of beauty when Prince Goldenhair enters “a magical garden awash in sunlight, full of flowers and branches with gold and silver leaves and fruits made of precious stones”? Or when a dung beetle turns into a prince after a girl spares his life and invites “creatures small and large, anything on legs” to dance and leap at the wedding? Equally charming is the story about Jodel, a boy who overcomes his revulsion to a female frog and, after bathing her, joins her under the covers. In the morning, he awakens to find himself in a sunlit castle with a wondrously beautiful princess. Here at last is a transformation that promises real change in our understanding of fairy-tale magic, for suddenly we discover that the divide between passive princesses and dragon-slaying heroes may be little more than a figment of the Grimm imagination.

The term fairy tale has not served the genre well. Often dismissed as an infantile confection, the fairy tale in fact rarely contains the sprightly supernatural creatures featured so prominently in its name. It was the French, more specifically Mme d’Aulnoy, who gave us the term contes de fées, leading us to frame the stories as if they turn on the lives of diminutive woodland folk (of which there are quite a few in Schönwerth’s collection) rather than ordinary people. In English, the term was first used in 1749, casually by Horace Walpole, and with self-conscious purpose when Sarah Fielding called a story embedded in The Governess, published in 1749, “The Princess Hebe: A Fairy Tale.” The German term Märchen points to the origins of the stories in the notion of news, reports, tall tales, rumors, and gossip—in short, of talk and social exchanges. Fairy tales hover somewhere between tall tale and high fantasy, anchored in the real world, but with embellishments and misrepresentations that turn their lies and confabulations into higher truths.

There is magic in these tall tales, and the presence of enchantment is perhaps the defining feature of the genre.* We are not so much in the realm of fairies as in the domain of what J. R. R. Tolkien referred to as Faërie, that “Perilous Realm” where anything can happen. A plain girl puts on a necklace and belt and turns into a beautiful young woman; a boy swims on the back of a golden fish and enters an enchanted castle; elves teach a girl how to keep house and heal the sick. Again and again we witness transformations that break down the divide between life and death, nature and culture, animal and human, or beauty and monstrosity. Fairy tales take up deep cultural contradictions, creating what Claude Lévi-Strauss called “miniature models”—stories that dispense with extraneous details to give us primal anxieties and desires, the raw rather than the cooked, as it were. They use magic, not to falsify or delude, but rather to enable counterfactuals, to move us to imagine what if or to wonder why. And that move, as both Plato and Aristotle assured us, marks the beginning of philosophy. While fairy-tale heroes and heroines wander, we track their moves and wonder, in both senses of the term, at their adventures. It is no surprise that the term wonder-tale has been proposed and embraced as an alternative to the misleading fairy tale.

Fairy tales, like myths, capitalize on the three concepts the Greeks captured in the term kaleidoscope: sparkling beauty, austere form, and visual power. Once told at the fireside or at the hearth, with adults and children sharing the storytelling space, they captured the play of light and shadow in their environment, creating special effects that yoked beauty with horror. Imagine a time before electronic entertainment, with long dark nights around campsites and other sources of heat and light, and it is not much of a challenge to realize that human beings, always quick to adapt, began exchanging information, trading wisdom, and reporting gossip. “Literature,” Vladimir Nabokov tells us, “was born on the day when a boy came crying wolf wolf, and there was no wolf behind him.”* And that boy’s story was no doubt both compact and vivid. Once the conversation started about that wolf, it was easy enough, in subsequent versions, to begin exaggerating, overstating, inflating, and doing all the things that make for lively entertainment. Fairy tales are always more interesting when something is added to them. Each new telling recharges the narrative, making it crackle and hiss with cultural energy.

At a time when some scholars have contested the vibrancy of oral storytelling traditions, claiming that fairy tales were literary confections, urban and urbane, rather than rooted in the popular culture of the unlettered, Schönwerth’s collection reveals just how comfortably the tales inhabit a world that values spontaneity, improvisation, rough edges, and lack of closure. Much as there may be lively traffic between the oral and the literary, these tales, unlike stories written down by the Brothers Grimm or that other prominent collector, Ludwig Bechstein, have few literary fingerprints on them. We cannot go back to nineteenth-century nooks and hearths to learn more about the tales that were told for entertainment, but we do have Schönwerth’s extraordinary archive, one that showed respect for oral storytelling traditions and did not work hard to turn hard-won fairy-tale silver into literary gold.

Schönwerth’s collection of tales may lack some of the charm of other nineteenth-century collections, but it gives us a crystal-clear window into the storytelling culture of its time. Earthy, scatological, and unvarnished, these tales give us primary process rather than edited and embellished narrative. Where else will we find a woman who moons a scoundrel of a tailor, or a fellow who relieves himself in the woods much to the dismay of his pals? Schönwerth recognized the value of remaining faithful to his sources and refused to pull punches.

In a tale that is more anecdote or joke than fairy tale, Schönwerth recorded the story of a man who searches in vain for the right reading glasses. Frustrated by the fact that no matter how many spectacles he tries out, all he sees on the page are black squiggles, he learns, much to his distress, that the glasses will do him no good unless he first learns how to read. Written down at a transitional moment, when oral storytelling cultures were being replaced by print collections, the tale is a subtle reminder, among other things, that the dead letter is a poor substitute for the living word. It is to Schönwerth’s credit that he had faith in the power of black squiggles to capture the letter and spirit of what he had heard from women, weavers, and all those folks who were convinced that he must be joking when he asked them for their stories. Many of his contemporaries possessed neither glasses, books, nor the ability to read, but Schönwerth nonetheless recognized that a time would come when we would rely on those artifacts and skills to discover a literary heritage that might otherwise have been lost.

Like fairy tales, translations are collaborations, and I want to thank, above all, Erika Eichenseer for undertaking the labor of love that rescued these tales, let them return to and breathe the fine air of the places they were once told, and brought them into the orbit of English-speaking cultures. Her tireless championing not just of Schönwerth’s labors but also of the world of folklore went far toward inspiring me to re-create the tales in ways that made manifest the magic of the German versions. Doris Sperber, a genius at tracking down sources, flagging errors, and attending to devilish details, provided steady and steadying support. I am deeply grateful to John Siciliano at Penguin Classics for his faith in Schönwerth, in the collaborative work carried out by Erika and me, and in the sprinkling of fairy dust that animates these stories and ensures that they will thrive on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.

MARIA TATAR

Cristina Bacchilega. Fairy Tales Transformed? Twenty-First-Century Adaptations and the Politics of Wonder. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2013.

Bruno Bettelheim. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. New York: Knopf, 1976.

Robert Darnton. “Peasants Tell Tales: The Meaning of Mother Goose.” In The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. New York: Basic Books, 1984.

Donald Haase, ed. Fairy Tales and Feminism. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2009.

Maria Tatar. The Classic Fairy Tales. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999.

Hans-Jörg Uther. The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography. 3 vols. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004.

Marina Warner. From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994.

Charlotte Wolf. Original Bavarian Folktales: A Schönwerth Selection. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2014.

Jack Zipes. Why Fairy Tales Stick: The Evolution and Relevance of a Genre. New York: Routledge, 2006.

———. The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.

Further Reading in German

Erika Eichenseer, ed. Franz Xaver von Schönwerth: Prinz Roßzwifl und andere Märchen. Regensburg: Morsbach, 2010, 2013.

Roland Rörich (Hsgb.). Der oberpfälzische Volkskundler Franz Xaver Schönwerth. Seibn Leben und Werk: Kallmünz: Lassleben, 1975.

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

<br />Oh, The Places You'll Go!


Product ASIN:

0679805273

Product Description

A perennial favorite, Dr. Seuss’s wonderfully wise graduation speech is the perfect send-off for children starting out in the world, be they nursery school, high school, or college grads! From soaring to high heights and seeing great sights to being left in a Lurch on a prickle-ly perch, Dr. Seuss addresses life’s ups and downs with his trademark humorous verse and illustrations, while encouraging readers to find the success that lies within. In a starred review, Booklist notes: “Seuss’s message is simple but never sappy: life may be a ‘Great Balancing Act,’ but through it all ‘There’s fun to be done.’”


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #50 in Books
  • Brand: Random House
  • Published on: 1990-01-22
  • Released on: 1990-01-22
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 11.25" h x .38" w x 8.38" l, .83 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 56 pages

Features

  • Dr. Seuss, self improvement

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Inspirational yet honest, and always rhythmically rollicking, Oh, the Places You'll Go! is a perfect sendoff for children, 1 to 100, entering any new phase of their lives. Kindergartners, graduate students, newlyweds, newly employeds--all will glean shiny pearls of wisdom about the big, bountiful future. The incomparable Dr. Seuss rejoices in the potential everyone has to fulfill their wildest dreams: "You'll be on your way up! / You'll be seeing great sights! / You'll join the high fliers / who soar to high heights." At the same time, he won't delude the starry-eyed upstart about the pitfalls of life: "You can get all hung up / in a prickle-ly perch. / And your gang will fly on. / You'll be left in a Lurch."

But fear not! Dr. Seuss, with his inimitable illustrations and exhilarating rhymes, is convinced ("98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed") that success is imminent. As long as you remember "to be dexterous and deft. And NEVER mix up your right foot with your left," things should work out. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 3-- The master of enjoyable didacticism offers a flight of fancy into the future of a generic "you" who is venturing out into the world, where he will have ups and downs but will succeed and finally "MOVE MOUNTAINS!" While doting relatives will find this extended greeting card an ideal gift for nursery school graduates, the story will have less appeal for children than Seuss' story books and easy readers. Seuss' characteristic drawings carry and extend the text through mazelike streets, over colorful checkerboard landscapes, into muddy blue "slumps," through heady highs when fame results from success at the game of life, and through dark, lonely confrontations with graveyard-like fears in times of solitude. While the text gives a strong message of self-determination and potential, the small, male "you" pictured seems more of a passive passenger on his journey through life, reacting to things as they come and walking along with his eyes shut on both the first and last pages of the text. Although this does not rank among the best of Seuss' books, its stress on self-esteem and imaginative artwork make it a good addition to picture-book collections. --Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Gift guide, The New York Times, June 21, 2008:
"One book that has proved to be popular for graduates of all ages since it was first published in 1990."

Gone Girl

<br />Gone Girl


Product ASIN:

0307588378

Product Description

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #140 in Books
  • Published on: 2014-04-22
  • Released on: 2014-04-22
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 7.94" h x .94" w x 5.10" l, .73 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 422 pages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, June 2012: On the day of their fifth wedding anniversary, Nick's wife Amy disappears. There are signs of struggle in the house and Nick quickly becomes the prime suspect. It doesn't help that Nick hasn't been completely honest with the police and, as Amy's case drags out for weeks, more and more vilifying evidence appears against him. Nick, however, maintains his innocence. Told from alternating points of view between Nick and Amy, Gillian Flynn creates an untrustworthy world that changes chapter-to-chapter. Calling Gone Girl a psychological thriller is an understatement. As revelation after revelation unfolds, it becomes clear that the truth does not exist in the middle of Nick and Amy's points of view; in fact, the truth is far more dark, more twisted, and more creepy than you can imagine. Gone Girl is masterfully plotted from start to finish and the suspense doesn't waver for one page. It's one of those books you will feel the need to discuss immediately after finishing because the ending doesn't just come; it punches you in the gut. --Caley Anderson

From Author Gillian Flynn

You might say I specialize in difficult characters. Damaged, disturbed, or downright nasty. Personally, I love each and every one of the misfits, losers, and outcasts in my three novels. My supporting characters are meth tweakers, truck-stop strippers, backwoods grifters ...

But it's my narrators who are the real challenge.

In Sharp Objects, Camille Preaker is a mediocre journalist fresh from a stay at a psychiatric hospital. She's an alcoholic. She's got impulse issues. She's also incredibly lonely. Her best friend is her boss. When she returns to her hometown to investigate a child murder, she parks down the street from her mother's house "so as to seem less obtrusive." She has no sense of whom to trust, and this leads to disaster.

Camille is cut off from the world but would rather not be. In Dark Places, narrator Libby Day is aggressively lonely. She cultivates her isolation. She lives off a trust fund established for her as a child when her family was massacred; she isn't particularly grateful for it. She's a liar, a manipulator, a kleptomaniac. "I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ," she warns. "Draw a picture of my soul and it'd be a scribble with fangs." If Camille is overly grateful when people want to befriend her, Libby's first instinct is to kick them in their shins.

In those first two novels, I explored the geography of loneliness--and the devastation it can lead to. With Gone Girl, I wanted to go the opposite direction: what happens when two people intertwine their lives completely.I wanted to explore the geography of intimacy--and the devastation it can lead to. Marriage gone toxic.

Gone Girl opens on the occasion of Amy and Nick Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. (How romantic.) Amy disappears under very disturbing circumstances. (Less romantic.) Nick and Amy Dunne were the golden couple when they first began their courtship. Soul mates. They could complete each other's sentences, guess each other's reactions. They could push each other's buttons. They are smart, charming, gorgeous, and also narcissistic, selfish, and cruel.

They complete each other--in a very dangerous way.

Review
A People Magazine Best Book of the Year
New York Times Janet Maslin's 10 Favorite Books of 2012
Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel
Anthony Award Nominee for Best Novel


“Ice-pick-sharp… Spectacularly sneaky… Impressively cagey… Gone Girl is Ms. Flynn’s dazzling breakthrough. It is wily, mercurial, subtly layered and populated by characters so well imagined that they’re hard to part with — even if, as in Amy’s case, they are already departed. And if you have any doubts about whether Ms. Flynn measures up to Patricia Highsmith’s level of discreet malice, go back and look at the small details. Whatever you raced past on a first reading will look completely different the second time around.”  
—Janet Maslin, New York Times

“An ingenious and viperish thriller… It’s going to make Gillian Flynn a star… A great, breathless read...Flynn has created a genuinely creepy villain you don't see coming. People love to talk about the banality of evil. You’re about to meet a maniac you could fall in love with.”  
Jeff Giles, Entertainment Weekly

“An irresistible summer thriller with a twisting plot worthy of Alfred Hitchcock. Burrowing deep into the murkiest corners of the human psyche, this delectable summer read will give you the creeps and keep you on edge until the last page.”  
—People (four stars)

“[A] thoroughbred thriller about the nature of identity and the terrible secrets that can survive and thrive in even the most intimate relationships. Gone Girl begins as a whodunit, but by the end it will have you wondering whether there’s any such thing as a who at all.”  
Lev Grossman, Time

“How did things get so bad? That’s the reason to read this book. Gillian Flynn — whose award-winning Dark Places and Sharp Objects also shone a dark light on weird and creepy, not to mention uber dysfunctional characters — delves this time into what happens when two people marry and one spouse has no idea who their beloved really is.”
USA Today, Carol Memmott

“It’s simply fantastic: terrifying, darkly funny and at times moving. The minute I finished it I wanted to start it all over again. Admirers of Gillian Flynn’s previous books, Sharp Objects and Dark Places, will be ecstatic over Gone Girl, her most intricately twisted and deliciously sinister story, dangerous for any reader who prefers to savor a novel as opposed to consuming it whole in one sitting….”
Associated Press, Michelle Weiner

“Gillian Flynn’s third novel is both breakneck-paced thriller and masterful dissection of marital breakdown… Wickedly plotted and surprisingly thoughtful, this is a terrifically good read.”
Boston Globe

“That adage of no one knows what goes on behind closed doors moves the plot of Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn's suspenseful psychological thriller… Flynn's unpredictable plot of Gone Girl careens down an emotional highway where this couple dissects their marriage with sharp acumen… Flynn has shown her skills at gripping tales and enhanced character studies since her debut Sharp Objects, which garnered an Edgar nod, among other nominations. Her second novel Dark Places made numerous best of lists. Gone Girl reaffirms her talent.” 
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Oline Cogdill

“A great crime novel, however, is an unstable thing, entertainment and literature suspended in some undetermined solution. Take Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, the third novel by one of a trio of contemporary women writers (the others are Kate Atkinson and Tana French) who are kicking the genre into a higher gear… You couldn’t say that this is a crime novel that’s ultimately about a marriage, which would make it a literary novel in disguise. The crime and the marriage are inseparable. As Gone Girl works itself up into an aria of ingenious, pitch-black comedy (or comedic horror — it’s a bit of both), its very outlandishness teases out a truth about all magnificent partnerships: Sometimes it’s your enemy who brings out the best in you, and in such cases, you want to keep him close.”
Salon
 
“Ms. Flynn writes dark suspense novels that anatomize violence without splashing barrels of blood around the pages… But as in her other books, Ms. Flynn has much more up her sleeve than a simple missing-person case. As Nick and Amy's alternately tell their stories, marriage has never looked so menacing, narrators so unreliable.” 
Wall Street Journal

“A portrait of a marriage so hilariously terrifying, it will make you have a good hard think about who the person on the other side of the bed really is. This novel is so bogglingly twisty, we can only give you the initial premise: on their fifth anniversary, Nick Dunne’s beloved wife Amy disappears, and all signs point to very foul play indeed. Nick has to clear his name before the police finger him for Amy’s murder.”
Time

“Readers who prefer more virulent strains of unreality will appreciate the sneaky mind games of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, a thriller rooted in the portrait of a tricky and troubled marriage.”
New York Times

“[Flynn has] quite outdone herself with a tale of marital strife so deliciously devious that it moves the finish line on The War of the Roses… A novel studded with disclosures and guided by purposeful misdirection… Flynn delivers a wickedly clever cultural commentary as well as a complex and driven mystery… What fun this novel is.”
New York Daily News
 
“Flynn’s brilliantly constructed and consistently absorbing third novel begins on the Dunnes’ fifth wedding anniversary… The novel, which twists itself into new shapes, works as a page-turning thriller, but it’s also a study of marriage at its most destructive.”
Columbus Dispatch
 
“Gillian Flynn's barbed and brilliant Gone Girl has two deceitful, disturbing, irresistible narrators and a plot that twists so many times you'll be dizzy. This "catastrophically romantic" story about Nick and Amy is a "fairy tale reverse transformation" that reminded me of Patricia Highsmith in its psychological suspense and Kate Atkinson in its insanely clever plotting.”
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
 
“For a creepy, suspenseful mystery, Ms. Pearl suggested Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, a novel due out this week. "You will not be able to figure out the end at all. I could not sleep the night after I read it. It's really good," Ms. [Nancy] Pearl said. "It's about the way we deceive ourselves and deceive others."”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Gillian Flynn's new novel, Gone Girl, is that rare thing: a book that thrills and delights while holding up a mirror to how we live… Through her two ultimately unreliable narrators, Flynn masterfully weaves the slow trickle of critical details with 90-degree plot turns… Timely, poignant and emotionally rich, Gone Girl will peel away your comfort levels even as you root for its protagonists—despite your best intuition.”
San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Flynn’s third noir thriller recently launched to even more acclaim than the first two novels, polishing her reputation for pushing crime fiction to a new literary level and as a craftsman of deliciously twisting and twisted plots.”
Kansas City Star
 
“I picked up Gone Girl because the novel is set along the Mississippi River in Missouri and the plot sounded intriguing. I put it down two days later, bleary-eyed and oh-so-satisfied after reading a story that left me surprised, disgusted, and riveted by its twists and turns… A good story presents a reader with a problem that has to be resolved and a few surprises along the way. A great story gives a reader a problem and leads you along a path, then dumps you off a cliff and into a jungle of plot twists, character revelations and back stories that you could not have imagined. Gone Girl does just that.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“To call Gillian Flynn's new novel almost review-proof isn't a put-down, it's a fact. That's because to give away the turn-of-the-screw in this chilling portrait of a marriage gone wrong would be a crime. I can say that Gone Girl is an ingenious whodunit for both the Facebook generation and old-school mystery buffs. Whoever you are, it will linger, like fingerprints on a gun… Flynn's characters bloom and grow, like beautiful, poisonous plants. She is a Gothic storyteller for the Internet age.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer

“The setup of Gone Girl lulls readers with what appears to be a done-too-often plot, but, oh, how misleading that is. This thriller is told in alternating voices, a risky form of narrative that works masterfully here because the characters are so distinct and convincing…. The first half of the story leads readers on a merry chase and gives the term "red herring" new meaning. The second half takes readers on a calculated descent into madness. The ending…is one of the most chilling we've seen in recent years.”
The Sacramento Bee, Allen Pierleoni

“If you do have room in your summer reading for new mysteries, pack Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. It's my pick for one of the summer's best.”
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

“In this fast-paced thriller, Flynn tracks the disintegration of a marriage and asks: How does a couple go from uttering passionate vows to living separate lives?”
All You

“Gillian Flynn’s terrific psychological thriller, Gone Girl, wanders into an alternate criminality, to the darkest corners of mind and matrimony, using Occam’s razor to slit its own throat… Aside from the plot’s high entertainment value, Flynn has buttressed her book with humor and great writing.”
The Daily Beast

Gone Girl is a dark, satisfying, psychological thriller… Gone Girl is at times brilliant, compelling, surprising, diabolical, and it’s definitely dark and twisted… It ranks as one of the best books I’ve read in the past year…I’d highly recommend it if you’re a fan of psychological thrillers or just plain great fiction.”
—Examiner.com

“Pick up the sharp, mercilessly entertaining psychological thriller Gone Girl, written by Gillian Flynn as though with a razor, giggling all the while.”
Vanity Fair

Gone Girl [is] a thriller with an insane twist and an insidiously realistic take on marriage.”
New York magazine
 
“A twisting, turning, zooming-up-the-charts thriller.”
Real Simple, announcing their book club pick
 
“An unnerving, gorgeously written marital thriller that features one of the most compelling narrators in recent memory… Anyway, go read Gone Girl. It's quite good.”
The Atlantic Wire
 
“Buy Gone Girl and don't settle down for a long winter's nap or any kind of nap. I read it in two days, nonstop, useless for anything but my own incredible pleasure.”
Liz Smith, New York Social Diary
 
“Gillian Flynn’s killer thriller is unputdownable, and just when you think you know where she’s going, she’s gone.”
DailyCandy.com
 
“A satisfyingly scathing take on a marriage so broken even the truth is built on lies.”
Family Circle
 
“If, instead, you're a fan of gripping, well-crafted tales about complex relationships, try Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.”
AARP.org
 
“After a chilling, bombshell twist, you won’t know which clues to trust nor whom to believe.”
Woman’s Day
 
Flynn’s ability to reach further and further into the deep, dark recesses of the human psyche brings a much greater edge and feeling of suspense to this novel. Gone Girl is a fast-paced, always surprising page-turner of a book…Gone Girl is a superbly crafted novel by a talented and daring young writer and it will keep you guessing until the very last sentence.”
Cincinnati City Beat, John Kelly
 
“A highly original thriller that’s also a razor-sharp depiction of a relationship gone off the rails.”
Parade
 
“Masterfully plotted.”
Vogue.com
 
“Dark yet funny with a devious twist, this is everything that made Flynn’s Sharp Objects a bestseller—but better.”
Redbook
 
“The story unfolds in precise and riveting prose…even while you know you're being manipulated, searching for the missing pieces is half the thrill of this wickedly absorbing tale.”
Oprah.com

“Full of midnight-black wit and gorgeous writing…About halfway through the book, something happens…That’s the moment you should check the clock and firmly put the book down if you have to rise early the next day. Because trust me, if you keep reading, you won’t stop till you finish it.”
Dallas Morning News, Joy Tipping

“Gillian Flynn's third mystery is burned-coffee black and flavored with cyanide. (As far as I'm concerned, those are compliments of the highest order.)…Flynn is a master manipulator, deftly fielding multiple unreliable narrators, sardonic humor, and social satire in a story of a marriage gone wrong that makes black comedies like “The War of the Roses” and “Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf” look like scenes from a honeymoon. Veteran mystery readers may see as far as the opening of the second act, but Flynn has more surprises in store on her way to the sucker-punch of an ending. It is, in a word, amazing.”
Christian Science Monitor, Yvonne Zipp

“A perfect wife’s disappearance plunges her husband into a nightmare as it rips open ugly secrets about his marriage and, just maybe, his culpability in her death… One of those rare thrillers whose revelations actually intensify its suspense instead of dissipating it. The final pages are chilling.”
Kirkus (starred review)

“[W]hat looks like a straightforward case of a husband killing his wife to free himself from a bad marriage morphs into something entirely different in Flynn’s hands. As evidenced by her previous work (Sharp Objects, 2006, and Dark Places, 2009), she possesses a disturbing worldview, one considerably amped up by her twisted sense of humor. Both a compelling thriller and a searing portrait of marriage, this could well be Flynn’s breakout novel. It contains so many twists and turns that the outcome is impossible to predict.”
Booklist (starred review)

"Flynn cements her place among that elite group of mystery/thriller writers who unfailingly deliver the goods...Once again Flynn has written an intelligent, gripping tour de force, mixing a riveting plot and psychological intrigue with a compelling prose style that unobtrusively yet forcefully carries the reader from page to page." 
Library Journal (starred review)

"Flynn masterfully lets this tale of a marriage gone toxically wrong gradually emerge through alternating accounts by Nick and Amy, both unreliable narrators in their own ways. The reader comes to discover their layers of deceit through a process similar to that at work in the imploding relationship. Compulsively readable, creepily unforgettable, this is a must read for any fan of bad girls and good writing."
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Gone Girl is one of the best ­and most frightening ­portraits of psychopathy I've ever read. Nick and Amy manipulate each other ­with savage, merciless and often darkly witty dexterity. This is a wonderful and terrifying book about how the happy surface normality and the underlying darkness can become too closely interwoven to separate.” 
Tana French, New York Times bestselling author of Faithful Place and Into the Woods
 
“The plot has it all. I have no doubt that in a year’s time I’m going to be saying that this is my favorite novel of 2012. Brilliant.” 
Kate Atkinson, New York Times bestselling author of Started Early, Took My Dog and Case Histories
 
Gone Girl builds on the extraordinary achievements of Gillian Flynn's first two books and delivers the reader into the claustrophobic world of a failing marriage. We all know the story, right? Beautiful wife disappears; husband doesn't seem as distraught as he should be under the circumstances. But Flynn takes this sturdy trope of the 24-hour news cycle and turns it inside out, providing a devastating portrait of a marriage and a timely, cautionary tale about an age in which everyone's dreams seem to be imploding.” 
Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Dangerous Thing and I’d Know You Anywhere
 
“Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is like Scenes from a Marriage remade by Alfred Hitchcock, an elaborate trap that’s always surprising and full of characters who are entirely recognizable. It’s a love story wrapped in a mystery that asks the eternal question of all good relationships gone bad: How did we get from there to here?” 
Adam Ross, New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Peanut

“Just this minute I finished a week of feeling betrayed, misled, manipulated, provoked, and misjudged, not to mention having all my expectations confounded.  Considering how compulsively I kept coming back for more, I am seriously thinking of going back to page one and doing it all again.” 
Arthur Phillips, author of The Tragedy of Arthur
 
“I cannot say this urgently enough: you have to read Gone Girl. It’s as if Gillian Flynn has mixed us a martini using battery acid instead of vermouth and somehow managed to make it taste really, really good. Gone Girl is delicious and intoxicating and delightfully poisonous. It’s smart (brilliant, actually). It’s funny (in the darkest possible way). The writing is jarringly good, and the story is, well...amazing.  Read the book and you'll discover—among many other treasures—just how much freight (and fright) that last adjective can bear.” 
Scott Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Ruins and A Simple Plan
 
“Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl reminds me of Patricia Highsmith at the top of her game. With Gone Girl, she’s placed herself at the top of the short list of authors who have mastered the art of crafting a tense story with terrifyingly believable characters.” 
Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Fallen

"Gone Girl manages to be so many stellar things all at once—suspenseful, inventive, chilling, funny, unsettling—as well as beautifully plotted and fiercely well-written. Gillian Flynn is a thrilling writer.”
Kate Christensen, author of The Great Man  

“Reminds suspense readers of the old Alfred Hitchcock stories...This is one puzzle you do not want to miss.”
Amy Lignor, Suspense Magazine

“Absorbing thriller…In masterly fashion, Flynn depicts the unraveling of a marriage – and of a recession-hit Midwest – by interweaving the wife’s diary entries with the husband’s first person account.”
New Yorker
 
“A psychological thriller reminiscent of Hitchcock.”
Aspen Daily News
 
“Devilishly clever he said/she said thriller.”
AJC.com, Atlanta Journal Constitution
 
“Flynn’s sly and rippingly suspenseful novel, Gone Girl, is one of those novels it’s hard not to try and shanghai other people into reading, as in immediately. Flynn (Sharp Objects, Dark Places) lays down a vivid and plainspoken narrative that can read like the most jet-fueled of airport thrillers but is still bejeweled with sparkling asides and dead-on commentary. Her writing is, as needed, funny, perceptive, headslappingly honest, or sometimes an amalgam of the three. That this all happens in a book whose plot seems at first ripped from a Dateline NBC true crime is all the more impressive.”
—PopMatters.com

“A riveting novel, a Midwestern noir with completely unreliable narrators.”
Knoxville Metro Plus

“Part thriller, part macabre love story…The book is told deliciously…The twists and turns are never obvious.”
New York Post

“Dark yet funny with a devious twist, this is everything that made Flynn’s Sharp Objects a bestseller—but better.”
Redbook

The summer thriller is filled with enough suspense and twists to keep any beach reader happy, but it is also a book about writing. The main characters are avid readers, and they write letters, articles, journals, kid’s books and memoirs. The novel references other books, little Easter eggs nestled in the plot.”
MediaBistro

“A fiendishly clever tale of a marriage gone toxic, and revenge exacted to a disturbingly lethal degree.”
BookPage

“Flynn keeps us guessing with equal parts charm and menace. An addictive read.”
More magazine, Alice LaPlante

“After a chilling, bombshell twist, you won’t know which clues to trust nor whom to believe. Told from two perspectives, Gone Girl forces you to ask yourself, what would you do and who dunnit?”
Woman’s Day

Flynn’s ability to reach further and further into the deep, dark recesses of the human psyche brings a much greater edge and feeling of suspense to this novel. Gone Girl is a fast-paced, always surprising page-turner of a book. It’s not only a murder mystery, but a commentary on the disappearance in the last decade of nearly everything we hold near and dear, from jobs to our parents’ health and welfare to the landscape of our cities and towns…Beginning with Amy’s sudden disappearance, to the local police department’s slipshod investigation and the media’s obsessive coverage, Gone Girl is a thrilling roller coaster of a ride with enough twists and turns to give the reader whiplash…Flynn deserves credit for creating not just an exciting murder mystery, but also forcing us to look at the lies we tell ourselves.  Gone Girl is a superbly crafted novel by a talented and daring young writer and it will keep you guessing until the very last sentence.”
Cincinnati City Beat

Gone Girl is a superbly constructed, ingeniously paced and absolutely terrifying.  You begin by thinking that all marriages are a bit like this: they start with high hopes and get bogged down in nagging and money worries.  But then the psycho-drama creeps up on you with chilling power.  A five-star suspense mystery.”
A.N. Wilson, Reader’s Digest (UK)

Gone Girl is as skillfully creepy as her previous work… A chilling, stylish read about another unknowable woman.”
—Elle (UK)

“The married duo in Gillian Flynn’s superb third novel takes the idea of unreliable narrators to a whole new level. When Nick Dunne’s lovely wife Amy is violently abducted on their fifth wedding anniversary, the police and the press immediately put Nick in the frame for her murder.  Amy’s friends testify that she was afraid of her husband, and the missing woman’s diary backs up their impressions.  Nick’s computer is full of inexplicable searches, his mobile phone is plagued by mysterious calls and his own inner monologue offers a darker perspective on amazing Amy and the state of their turbulent marriage.  Flynn keeps the accelerator firmly to the floor, ratcheting up the tension with wildly unexpected plot twists, contradictory stories and the tantalizing feeling that nothing is as it seems.  Deviously good.”
Marie Claire (UK)

About the Author
GILLIAN FLYNN is the author of the runaway hit Gone Girl, an international sensation that has spent more than ninety-five weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Her work has been published in forty languages. Gone Girl is soon to be a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox. Flynn’s previous novels, Dark Places and Dagger Award winner Sharp Objects, were also New York Times bestsellers. A former writer and critic for Entertainment Weekly, she lives in Chicago with her husband and children.


From the Hardcover edition.

A Brief History of Time

<br />A Brief History of Time


Product ASIN:

0553380168

Product Description

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A landmark volume in science writing by one of the great minds of our time, Stephen Hawking’s book explores such profound questions as: How did the universe begin—and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending—or are there boundaries? Are there other dimensions in space? What will happen when it all ends?

Told in language we all can understand, A Brief History of Time plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and “arrows of time,” of the big bang and a bigger God—where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. With exciting images and profound imagination, Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets at the very heart of creation.


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #185 in Books
  • Published on: 1998-09-01
  • Released on: 1998-09-01
  • Format: Unabridged
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 9.00" h x .57" w x 5.95" l, .50 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 212 pages

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in history, wrote the modern classic A Brief History of Time to help nonscientists understand the questions being asked by scientists today: Where did the universe come from? How and why did it begin? Will it come to an end, and if so, how? Hawking attempts to reveal these questions (and where we're looking for answers) using a minimum of technical jargon. Among the topics gracefully covered are gravity, black holes, the Big Bang, the nature of time, and physicists' search for a grand unifying theory. This is deep science; these concepts are so vast (or so tiny) as to cause vertigo while reading, and one can't help but marvel at Hawking's ability to synthesize this difficult subject for people not used to thinking about things like alternate dimensions. The journey is certainly worth taking, for, as Hawking says, the reward of understanding the universe may be a glimpse of "the mind of God." --Therese Littleton

Review
“[Hawking] can explain the complexities of cosmological physics with an engaging combination of clarity and wit. . . . His is a brain of extraordinary power.”—The New York Review of Books

“This book marries a child’s wonder to a genius’s intellect. We journey into Hawking’s universe while marvelling at his mind.”—The Sunday Times (London)
 
“Masterful.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Charming and lucid . . . [A book of] sunny brilliance.”—The New Yorker

“Lively and provocative . . . Mr. Hawking clearly possesses a natural teacher’s gifts—easy, good-natured humor and an ability to illustrate highly complex propositions with analogies plucked from daily life.”—The New York Times

“Even as he sits helpless in his wheelchair, his mind seems to soar ever more brilliantly across the vastness of space and time to unlock the secrets of the universe.”—Time

From the Inside Flap
A Brief History of Time, published in 1988, was a landmark volume in science writing and in world-wide acclaim and popularity, with more than 9 million copies in print globally. The original edition was on the cutting edge of what was then known about the origins and nature of the universe. But the ensuing years have seen extraordinary advances in the technology of observing both the micro- and the macrocosmic world--observations that have confirmed many of Hawking's theoretical predictions in the first edition of his book.

Now a decade later, this edition updates the chapters throughout to document those advances, and also includes an entirely new chapter on Wormholes and Time Travel and a new introduction. It make vividly clear why A Brief History of Time has transformed our view of the universe.

What to Expect When You're Expecting, 4th Edition

<br />What to Expect When You're Expecting, 4th Edition


Product ASIN:

0761148574

Product Description

Announcing a brand new, cover-to-cover revision of America's pregnancy bible. What to Expect When You're Expecting is a perennial New York Times bestseller and one of USA Today's 25 most influential books of the past 25 years. It's read by more than 90% of pregnant women who read a pregnancy book--the most iconic, must-have book for parents-to-be, with over 14.5 million copies in print.

Now comes the Fourth Edition, a new book for a new generation of expectant moms--featuring a new look, a fresh perspective, and a friendlier-than-ever voice. It's filled with the most up-to-date information reflecting not only what's new in pregnancy, but what's relevant to pregnant women. Heidi Murkoff has rewritten every section of the book, answering dozens of new questions and including loads of new asked-for material, such as a detailed week-by-week fetal development section in each of the monthly chapters, an expanded chapter on pre-conception, and a brand new one on carrying multiples. More comprehensive, reassuring, and empathetic than ever, the Fourth Edition incorporates the most recent developments in obstetrics and addresses the most current lifestyle trends (from tattooing and belly piercing to Botox and aromatherapy). There's more than ever on pregnancy matters practical (including an expanded section on workplace concerns), physical (with more symptoms, more solutions), emotional (more advice on riding the mood roller coaster), nutritional (from low-carb to vegan, from junk food–dependent to caffeine-addicted), and sexual (what's hot and what's not in pregnant lovemaking), as well as much more support for that very important partner in parenting, the dad-to-be.

Overflowing with tips, helpful hints, and humor (a pregnant woman's best friend), this new edition is more accessible and easier to use than ever before. It's everything parents-to-be have come to expect from What to Expect... only better.


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #55 in Books
  • Brand: Workman Publishing
  • Published on: 2008-04-10
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 9.00" h x 1.25" w x 6.00" l, 1.87 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 640 pages

Features

  • Great product!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Announcing a brand new, cover-to-cover revision of America's pregnancy bible. What to Expect When You're Expecting is a perennial New York Times bestseller and one of USA Today's 25 most influential books of the past 25 years. It's read by more than 90% of pregnant women who read a pregnancy book--the most iconic, must-have book for parents-to-be, with over 14.5 million copies in print.

Now comes the Fourth Edition, a new book for a new generation of expectant moms--featuring a new look, a fresh perspective, and a friendlier-than-ever voice. It's filled with the most up-to-date information reflecting not only what's new in pregnancy, but what's relevant to pregnant women. Heidi Murkoff has rewritten every section of the book, answering dozens of new questions and including loads of new asked-for material, such as a detailed week-by-week fetal development section in each of the monthly chapters, an expanded chapter on pre-conception, and a brand new one on carrying multiples. More comprehensive, reassuring, and empathetic than ever, the Fourth Edition incorporates the most recent developments in obstetrics and addresses the most current lifestyle trends (from tattooing and belly piercing to Botox and aromatherapy). There's more than ever on pregnancy matters practical (including an expanded section on workplace concerns), physical (with more symptoms, more solutions), emotional (more advice on riding the mood roller coaster), nutritional (from low-carb to vegan, from junk food–dependent to caffeine-addicted), and sexual (what's hot and what's not in pregnant lovemaking), as well as much more support for that very important partner in parenting, the dad-to-be.

Overflowing with tips, helpful hints, and humor (a pregnant woman's best friend), this new edition is more accessible and easier to use than ever before. It's everything parents-to-be have come to expect from What to Expect... only better.



Amazon.com Exclusive
An Essay from Heidi Murkoff
What to Expect started with information--or, actually, lack of information. In fact, when I found out I was expecting for the first time--I didn't have the slightest idea of what to expect. And back then, it wasn't as easy to find out what to expect as you'd think. I created What to Expect When You're Expecting because I couldn't find the answers to my questions or the reassurance for my worries that I was searching for in the pregnancy books I read (and believe me, I read plenty). I was a mom on a mission--a mission to help other moms and dads worry less and enjoy their pregnancies (and their babies, and their toddlers) more. And I've been on that mission ever since.

So what sent me back to recreate What to Expect--for a fourth time? Today, there's definitely no lack of information on pregnancy. In fact there's more information than ever before (a quick online search of pregnancy or a glance at pages and pages of pregnancy and parenting options right here on Amazon will clue you in on that). But often what's still hard to find is the right kind of information. Information that's accurate yet empathetic, reassuring yet realistic--that empowers you, but doesn't overwhelm or confuse you, that guides you but doesn't dictate to you. And it's not just about the right information, it's about information that's presented in the way that's most helpful--easy to access, easy to digest, easy to use. It's about information that makes your pregnant life less stressful--more enjoyable, and, well, easier.

The fourth edition is a new What To Expect for a new generation of readers--you!--and I'm excited to say it's the best What To Expect yet. It's packed with all new information, of course (since things tend to change quickly in the baby-making and baby-delivering business--something you're probably all too aware of already if you've made more than one trip to the birthing room). But it doesn't only take into account what's new in obstetrics and what's new in pregnancy; it takes into account what's relevant to pregnant women now. Lifestyle. Working. Eating on the run. Juggling the pregnant life with real life. Keeping up with relationships. Birthing options that are family friendly and pregnancy care that incorporates the best that complimentary and alternative medicine has to offer. Managing multiples (which more and more moms are carrying). Sorting out the information from the misinformation--the reality from the hype, fact from Internet legend.

The fourth edition also takes into account how you likely use books these days, so the format is even more accessible than ever. More geared to in-the-moment, find-it-in-a-flash reading.

Most important of all, the fourth edition celebrates pregnancy. I have a passion for pregnancy, and always have. I love moms, I love dads, and I love babies. But everything about this fourth edition from the happy, excited mom-to-be on the cover, proudly caressing her beautiful belly and its even more beautiful contents, to the adorable week-by-week description of the making of your baby, to the positive (yet realistic), mom-to-mom tone throughout--this fourth edition is not just an explanation of those 9 amazing (though often bewildering) months you have ahead of you. It's a celebration of them.

What to Expect When You're Expecting fourth edition is everything moms and dads have come to expect from What to Expect... only better. And I can't wait to start sharing it with you.

I guess you can say--I'm a proud mama all over again.

--Heidi Murkoff


More to Explore

What to Expect: Eating Well When You're Expecting

What to Expect the First Year

The What to Expect Pregnancy Journal & Organizer

From Publishers Weekly
Murkoff is back with yet another edition of the indispensable What to Expect When You're Expecting—this time with a largely rewritten and revised edition of the comprehensive guide she introduced 24 years ago. The book has undergone an extensive overhaul, beginning with the cover, which depicts a stylish expectant mom dressed in jeans and a form-fitting shirt—a far cry from the original text's comfy, frumpy mom seated in a rocking chair. Inside, the author has added a number of new features, including a chapter that draws upon current research to steer parents-to-be to a healthier lifestyle even before conception begins, chapters on healthy eating and giving birth to multiples (a growing trend) and expanded sections on working during pregnancy. While the general layout and appearance of the book will be familiar to readers, Murkoff has successfully broadened and sharpened the material while keeping the overall style and presentation intact. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Back Cover

The best just got better.
Expect the best! A brand-new fourth edition—filled with the most up-to-date, accurate, and relevant information on all things pregnancy. Realistic, supportive, easy to access, and overflowing with practical tips, covering everything you'll need—and want—to know about life's most amazing journey, from preconception planning to birth to those first miraculous weeks with a new baby. It's all here: the lowdown on lifestyle trends and life in the workplace; the latest in prenatal testing and alternative therapies; the best in birthing options.


Comforting answers to hundreds of questions:
• I'm so queasy I can't even eat for one. How can I eat for two?
• Can I get highlights in my hair? How about my monthly wax?
• I'm only in my second month—why am I showing already?
• Can I stick to my normal workout routine while I’m expecting?
• Why is my skin broken out and blotchy? And how can I cover it?
• What's safe when it comes to sex?
• I think I felt the baby kicking—but I’m not sure. How do I tell?
• Will my body ever be the same after I deliver?

The Alchemist

<br />The Alchemist


Product ASIN:

0061122416

Product Description

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho continues to change the lives of its readers forever. With more than two million copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has established itself as a modern classic, universally admired.

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found.

The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories can, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, above all, following our dreams.


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #664 in Books
  • Brand: PowerbookMedic
  • Published on: 1993-04-25
  • Released on: 2006-04-25
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 8.00" h x .52" w x 5.31" l, .52 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 197 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho Discusses the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Alchemist
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What originally inspired you to write The Alchemist?

Coelho: My dream was to be a writer. I wrote my first book in 1987, The Pilgrimage, after completing my own personal pilgrimage from France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. After that I thought, “Why did it take me so long to fulfill my dream?” So I decided to write a metaphor, and this metaphor is The Alchemist: a novel about someone who needs to fulfill his or her dream, but takes too long because he or she thinks it’s impossible.

The Alchemist has sold over 150 million copies worldwide, won 115 international prizes and awards, has been translated into 80 languages, and is still on the New York Times bestseller list today, 25 years after its initial publication. What impact has this success had on your life?

Coelho: Of course The Alchemist opened a lot of doors for me. At the moment I’m answering this question, the novel is still on The New York Times bestseller list. But success did not happen overnight, so I had time to get used to it. The book was not something that exploded all of a sudden. I believe success can be a blessing, and it can also be a curse. I was older when the recognition came, so I had another level of maturity to face that change. When it happened, I remember thinking, “My God, this is a blessing. " So above all, I had to respect it. And the way to respect it is to really understand that a blessing has no explanation, but needs to be treasured and honored.

Do you closely relate to any of the characters in The Alchemist? If so, how?

Coelho: In The Alchemist, I relate myself to the Englishman - someone who is trying to understand life through books. It’s quite interesting how many times we use books to understand life. I think that a book is a catalyst: it provokes a reaction. I am a compulsive reader. I read a lot, but from time to time, there are books that changed my life. Well, it’s not that the book itself changed my life; it’s that I was already ready to change, and needed to not feel alone. The same thing happens with the Englishman in The Alchemist.

What have you discovered about your own personal destiny in the past 25 years since writing The Alchemist?

Coelho: What I learned after writing The Alchemist, after the worldwide success, is basically that I had a dream, a Personal Legend to fulfill. To be a writer is to write. To write means new books. New books mean new challenges. Of course, I could have stopped with The Alchemist a long time ago if I was only in it for money, but I really love what I do. I can’t see myself not writing. It’s not always an easy task, sometimes it’s very challenging, but this is what I do and this is what I like. So the journey itself is the miracle; it is the blessing. There is no point to reach. You have to travel your journey with joy, hope, and challenges in your heart.

Is there anything you would like to say to your readers and fans?

Coelho: To my readers and my fans, basically my companions, I would say that spirituality is being brave, is taking risks, is daring to do something when people are always telling you not to. My parents, for example, did not want me to be a writer, and that’s why it took so long for me to fulfill my dream. But here I am, thanks to that moment after my pilgrimage from France to Spain, when I said to myself, "I can’t live with a dream that I did not even try to fulfill. " Do the same thing.

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From Publishers Weekly
Brazilian writer Coelho has published five titles in 45 languages in 120 countries, and has sold 23 million books. It's easy to see why. This charming, simple and well-written allegory tells of a boy, Santiago, who has the imagination and courage to follow his "Personal Legend." Santiago finds fairy godfathers at many turns who help him learn to keep up his courage, and to read omens and his own heart. The book's inspirational message follow your heart and do your own thing is oblique enough, to allow readers to interpret it in any way they choose, with whatever degree and form of spirituality one adheres to: "To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation." But apparently only men need apply; a woman's destiny is to wait for her hero to find his treasure and return home to her. The real treasure here is Jeremy Irons. His intriguing, subtle and powerful performance carries us along on the boy's adventures, into his confusions and insights, through discussions with kings and animals, through the desert and the sun and even through the philosophical passages. Based on the Harper San Francisco hardcover.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- This simple, yet eloquent parable celebrates the richness of the human spirit. A young Spanish shepherd seeking his destiny travels to Egypt where he learns many lessons, particularly from a wise old alchemist. The real alchemy here, however, is the transmuting of youthful idealism into mature wisdom. The blending of conventional ideas with an exotic setting makes old truths seem new again. This shepherd takes the advice Hamlet did not heed, learning to trust his heart and commune with it as a treasured friend. Enjoyable and easy to read, this timeless fantasy validates the aspirations and dreams of youth.
- Sabrina Fraunfelter, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book (Dear Zoo & Friends)

<br />Dear Zoo: A Lift-the-Flap Book (Dear Zoo & Friends)


Product ASIN:

141694737X

Product Description

Dear Zoo is twenty-five years old -- and still as popular as ever!

And with an updated look, this classic children's storybook about a youngster loooking for a perfect pet is sure to delight a new generation of readers!


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #43 in Books
  • Brand: Little Simon
  • Model: 9781416947370
  • Published on: 2007-05-08
  • Released on: 2007-05-08
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 6.25" h x .50" w x 6.12" l, .38 pounds
  • Binding: Board book
  • 18 pages

Features

  • Great product!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Rod Campbell makes books for babies and toddlers, the best known being Dear Zoo, which has sold over two million copies worldwide. All his books have simple text, often with repeating phrases, ideal for the pre-reader. He uses flaps and touch-and-feel elements when appropriate.

Still Alice

<br />Still Alice


Product ASIN:

1501106422

Product Description

In Lisa Genova’s extraordinary New York Times bestselling novel, an accomplished professor diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease learns that her worth is comprised of more than her ability to remember. Now a major motion picture from Sony Pictures Classics starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kate Bosworth, and Kristen Stewart!

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life—and her relationship with her family and the world—forever.

At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that is as compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Ordinary People.


Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #156 in Books
  • Brand: Lisa Genova
  • Published on: 2014-12-02
  • Released on: 2014-12-02
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Dimensions: 8.25" h x .90" w x 5.31" l, 1.20 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 352 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Neuroscientist and debut novelist Genova mines years of experience in her field to craft a realistic portrait of early onset Alzheimer's disease. Alice Howland has a career not unlike Genova's—she's an esteemed psychology professor at Harvard, living a comfortable life in Cambridge with her husband, John, arguing about the usual (making quality time together, their daughter's move to L.A.) when the first symptoms of Alzheimer's begin to emerge. First, Alice can't find her Blackberry, then she becomes hopelessly disoriented in her own town. Alice is shocked to be diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's (she had suspected a brain tumor or menopause), after which her life begins steadily to unravel. She loses track of rooms in her home, resigns from Harvard and eventually cannot recognize her own children. The brutal facts of Alzheimer's are heartbreaking, and it's impossible not to feel for Alice and her loved ones, but Genova's prose style is clumsy and her dialogue heavy-handed. This novel will appeal to those dealing with the disease and may prove helpful, but beyond the heartbreaking record of illness there's little here to remember. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"After I read Still Alice, I wanted to stand up and tell a train full of strangers, 'You have to get this book.'" -- Beverly Beckham, The Boston Globe

"This book is as important as it is impressive, and will grace the lives of those affected by this dread disease for generations to come." -- Phil Bolsta, author of Sixty Seconds

"With a master storyteller's easy eloquence, Lisa Genova shines a searing spotlight on this Alice's surreal wonderland. You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to read this book. It will inform you. It will scare you. It will change you." -- Julia Fox Garrison, author of Don't Leave Me This Way

"A work of pure genius." -- Charley Schneider, author of Don't Bury Me, It Ain't Over Yet

"A masterpiece that will touch lives in ways none of us can even imagine. This book is the best portrayal of the Alzheimer's journey that I have read." -- Mark Warner, Alzheimer's Daily News

"With grace and compassion, Lisa Genova writes about the enormous white emptiness created by Alzheimer's." -- The Improper Bostonian

"Heartbreaking." -- The Cape Cod Chronicle

"Heartbreakingly real.... So real, in fact, that it kept me from sleeping for several nights. I couldn't put it down....Still Alice is a story that must be told." -- Brunonia Barry, New York Times bestselling author of The Lace Reader

About the Author
Lisa Genova is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Love Anthony, Left Neglected, and Still Alice. Her first novel, Still Alice, has been adapted into a film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart. Lisa graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in biopsychology and holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University. She travels worldwide speaking about Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, and autism. She has appeared on Dr. Oz, The Diane Rehm Show, CNN, Chronicle, Fox News, and Canada AM and is featured in the Emmy Award–winning documentary film To Not Fade Away. She lives with her family in Massachusetts.