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In his hilarious and moving tale The Common Reader, Alan Bennett deliciously imagined England's monarch as a woman whose mind is set free by a surprising turn to reading. Now, in this pair of novellas, the writer turns his unmatched pen onto the lives of two women caught up in decidedly less literary concerns. Wicked -- and insightful -- fun.
How did Argentina and its Malbec wines grow from near obscurity, oenologically speaking, to international prominence so rapidly? Wine journalist Ian Mount tells, with clarity -- and yet no loss of complexity -- the colorful story of how a French grape turned the unlikely region into a wine-producing powerhouse. With lively tales of backroom dealings, brilliant schemes, and big dreams, there's a lot to savor for the discerning palate.
Pity the poor stage mother, living out her dreams through her put-upon offspring. In his first work of fiction, poet and memoirist Alan Shapiro brings us an archetypal doozy: Growing up, Miriam Bluestein imagined her glamorous future on the stage. Those ambitions faded with the arrival of her family, but they are revived when her son, Ethan, shows talent as a performer. Miriam's single-minded drive on her disinterested son's behalf tears her family apart: readers get front-row seats for this arresting drama.
