Showing results by narrator "Christa Lewis" in All Categories

Velveteen Vargas is an 11-year-old from Brooklyn who is granted a summer vacation in the country, courtesy of the nonprofit Fresh Air Fund. Her host family is a couple in upstate New York: Ginger, a failed artist on the fringe of Alcoholics Anonymous; and Paul, an academic who wonders what it will mean to "make a difference" in such a contrived situation.

Three young Jewish sisters from Leipzig, Germany huddle together in the cold darkness of night waiting for their smugglers to rescue them and bring them to freedom in Belgium. Their mother, in a state of shock following Kristallnacht, is left behind, sedated in a psychiatric hospital. November 1938 begins the four year ordeal of the seven member Kroch family who endure unfathomable conditions in their fight for survival: imprisonment in French internment camps, hiding in a tiny tool shed, and adapting to the deplorable conditions of a Nazi prison.

When a five-year-old girl reports being saved by a mysterious being in the middle of a tornado, her story is readily dismissed. But less so the computer-assisted discovery of a pattern in a series of deaths that suggests they are no accident. Special agent Ilona Farris of the FBI puzzles over how a killer could predict the storm events so accurately, yet stops short at believing they are dealing with the thunder beings of Native American legend.

The internationally acclaimed actress Patricia Neal (1926-2010) was a star on stage, film, and television for more than 60 years. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Alma Brown in Hud, which earned her the 1963 Academy Award for Best Actress.

Everyone says hotshot goalie Luke Jackson is God's gift to girls, but the only girl he wants is his best friend, Malina Hall. He's always known how brilliant she is, but now that he's "accidentally" kissed her, he can't stop thinking about her...or wanting to kiss her again.

Thirteen-year-old Abby Hubble lives in an unhappy home in the Sierra Nevada foothills where her father makes life miserable for her and her mother, Mary. One day Abby witnesses a man dump a litter of puppies into the nearby river. Diving in to rescue all seven, she knows she won’t be able to bring them home. Afraid for their fate at the pound, she takes them to an abandoned cabin, where all she can offer is a promise that she’ll be back the next day.

Rune: She ran away from an abusive home to become the greatest violinist her world had ever known—and when the Ghost of Skull Hill tried to stop her, she played him to sleep! Robin: No mean musician herself, she must make her own visit to Skull Hill—to recruit the dreadful ghost to their cause. Nightingale: Alone she could accomplish nothing. So she joined forces with T'fyrr, a strange nonhuman with the face of a raptor and the voice of an angelic choir. This unlikely set of heroes had the daunting task of saving the King.

As an end-of-life doula, Nova Huston’s job - her calling, her purpose, her life - is to help terminally ill people make peace with their impending death. Unlike her business partner, who swears by her system of checklists, free-spirited Nova doesn’t shy away from difficult clients: the ones who are heartbreakingly young, or prickly, or desperate for a caregiver or companion. 

The first-ever comprehensive history of Beringia, the Arctic land and waters stretching from Russia to Canada, Floating Coast breaks away from familiar narratives to provide a fresh and fascinating perspective on an overlooked landscape. The unforgiving territory along the Bering Strait had long been home to humans - the Inupiat and Yupik in Alaska, and the Yupik and Chukchi in Russia - before Americans and Europeans arrived with revolutionary ideas for progress. 

Germany, 1945. The bloodiest war in history is at an end. Now the retribution and search for justice begin. In a series of Nuremberg trials, war criminals are hanged or commit suicide. Others are judged and sent to prison for their parts in the most heinous crimes of all time. But in the final trial, one in which ordinary Germans are forced to confront their complicity, a leading American defense counselor has to consider questions of good and evil when he defends a simple mechanic, a man who kept the gas chambers in working order.

Breast cancer can interrupt a life and demand that we pay more attention to the way we live. In this lyrical and inviting account, Patricia Greer explores associations and images that surround her experience of the disease. A Jungian analyst, she works with metaphors and meanings related to the illness and uses her dreams, inner journeys, and poetry to deepen into and under the reality of cancer. She shares her exploration with the hope that it may help others reflect on their experiences and find insights from understanding cancer as a source of wisdom.

Brilliant, short-lived, incredibly prolific—Schubert is one of the most intriguing figures in music history. While his music attracts a wide audience, much of his private life remains shrouded in mystery, and significant portions of his work have been overlooked. In this major new biography, Lorraine Byrne Bodley takes a detailed look into Schubert's life, from his early years at the Stadtkonvikt to the harrowing battle with syphilis that led to his death at the age of thirty-one.

Thrive Socially with Adult ADHD translates the neuroscience behind ADHD into practical skills for improving your communication and building better relationships. You'll gain crucial insight into how your brain works, and—most importantly—how it differs from a neurotypical brain.

Disturbed by the growing presence of the Church throughout Alanda, Nightingale fears for her non-human friends and joins forces with birdman T'fyrr in a quest to save the High King. 

Dovey Van Dalen has a gorgeous day planned for her 200th birthday: driving her new Porsche, admiring the cherry blossoms abloom in her adopted city of Washington DC, and a little pampering. But her boss has other ideas. A powerful artifact has been stolen, and he fears it's causing chaos in the unmagical world . . .

Luliia was a dedicated member of the Komsomol (the Soviet communist youth organization) and her parents worked for the NKVD. She started at the sniper school and eventually became a valued member of her battalion during operations against Prussia. She persevered through eight months of training before leaving for the Front on 24th November 1944 just days after qualifying. Joining the third Belorussian Front her battalion endured rounds of German mortar as well as loudspeaker announcements beckoning them to come over to the German side.

No one remembers how the Divide was created. The miles-deep and miles-wide chasm has existed for hundreds of years, protecting what remains of humanity from the Golyat: a creature whose shadow moves across the horizon at sunset.

A magical murderer is loose in Alanda. The victims are always women, always lower-class, and the weapon is always a three-sided stiletto, most often found among Church regalia. But the killers are never churchmen, and they always commit suicide immediately after the bloody deed. Tal Rufen is just a simple constable. But he really cares about his job, and when one of these murder/suicides happens on his beat, he becomes obsessed. His superiors don't care. But every instinct Tal Rufen has cries out that he has seen only one small piece of a bigger and much nastier puzzle.

During the Cold War, stories of espionage became popular on both sides of the Iron Curtain, capturing the imagination of readers and filmgoers alike as secret police quietly engaged in surveillance under the shroud of impenetrable secrecy. And curiously, in the post-Cold War period there are no signs of this enthusiasm diminishing.

Berlin. August 1961. The Cold War. When the Berlin Wall brutally divides East from West, Sabine is separated from her beloved brother, Dieter. Escape to the West is the only option if the family is to be reunited. But the Wall is guarded by soldiers operating a shoot-to-kill policy. And Sabine finds herself at the mercy of the Stasi and their brutal interrogation techniques. She must fight to escape. She must fight to survive.