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Jake Preston, successful New York photographer, had spent his life searching for something more, a magic he could never quite perceive-yet he always hid behind his camera, always let the lens see for him. Like so many of us, he hungered for a revelation, an epiphany, but was terrified at the prospect of finding one . . . until he returned home to discover his lover's body, dead on his blood-spattered bathroom floor, and on a mirror, a Cajun French message scrawled in fresh blood, the words merging with his reflection like sordid war paint. Even though he cannot translate the scarlet message, he is sure he knows what it means. The murder is his fault-blood for blood. With unblinking eyes, Jake smears the haunting words into a meaningless blur of red, and then with scarlet-stained fingers transcribes the message onto his flesh, transferring the bloodguilt onto his soul, completing the ritual by painting his face with a glistening mask of red. He knows what he has to do. Believing he is on a quest for revenge, Jake rushes to New Orleans, a maelstrom of color, disguise, and depravity. Stranded alone in a city where nothing is as it appears, Jake's quest manifests into a supernatural battle between good and evil that leads him across Louisiana, spellbound by the magic and mystery of one of the most unique and mysterious cultural regions in existence. Be there for the unmasking.
"With the intention of bringing her to America one day, Danny Callahan leaves his fiancee' Doreen to journey to New Orleans to work on the New Basin Canal with his sister Peggy and brother Brian. Once there they encounter seamy tenements, harsh working conditions, Yellow Fever, and the challenge of being accepted by New Orleans society. What exactly does it mean to be "Lace Curtain" Irish in French aristocratic New Orleans?" -- from publisher's website.
A deadpan celebration of the unique commercial aesthetic that flourished under the crumbling totalitarian Communist regimes of twentieth-century Europe Window-Shopping through the Iron Curtain presents a selection of more than 100 images of shop windows shot by David Hlynsky during four trips taken between 1986 and 1990 to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, East Germany, and Moscow. Using a Hasselblad camera, Hlynsky captured the slow, routine moments of daily life on the streets and in the shop windows of crumbling Communist countries. The resulting images could be still-lifes representing the intersection of a Communist ideology and a consumerist, Capitalist tool—the shop window—with the consumer stuck in the middle. Devoid of overt branding or calculated seduction, the shop windows were typically adorned with traditional yet incongruous symbols of cheer: homey lace curtains, paper flowers, painted butterflies, and pictures of happy children. Some windows were humble in their simple offerings of loaves and tinned fishes; others were zanily artistic, as in the modular display of military shirts in a Moscow storefront; and some illustrated intense professional pride, such as a sign in a Prague beauty salon depicting a pedicurist smiling fiendishly over an imperfect sole. The photographs are accompanied by essays by art historian Martha Langford and cultural studies specialist Jody Berland, as well as Hlynsky’s own account of his time as a flâneur in the shopping plazas of the collapsing Soviet empire—“a vast ad-hoc museum of a failing utopia” that in 1989 began to close forever.
Autumn Alley: where the East End's most fascinating call their home . . . Here you'll find Maud, the formidable Irish-American suffragette; sulky Patricia, whose unhappy childhood leads her to a dangerous love affair; vivacious, flame-haired Colleen; Mary, who struggles alongside her wayward husband to bring up children - and Arfer, whose quick mind lifts him out of the world of poverty in London's East End. ************* What readers are saying about AUTUMN ALLEY 'Wow!!' - 5 STARS 'Couldn't put it down' - 5 STARS 'Such a skilled storyteller' - 5 STARS 'The story captivated me' - 5 STARS 'I enjoyed it so much' - 5 STARS
Valuable flea market finds... A peeling, antioue vanity in muted sea green... An elegant, cracked chandelier... An enormous, slipcovered sofa with deep, cushions... Comfort, the beauty of imperfections, the allure of time-worn objects, and the appeal of simple practical living: these are the cornerstones of what has come to be known as the Shabby Chic style. Like the cozy familiarity of a well-worn pair of faded jeans, the dilapidated elegance of an Italian viIla, or the worn grandeur of faded velvets and mismatched floral china handed down from your grandmother's attic, the Shabby Chic style is a revived appreciation for what is used, well-loved, and worn. It is a respect for natural evolution and a regard for what is easy and sensible. The hundreds of lavish photographs in this book invite you inside the unique world of Shabby Chic. Rachel Ashwell, founder of theShabby Chic home decor stores, for the first time provides her invaluable and much-sought-after advice on how to re-create Shabby Chic style in your own home. With engaging text and easy-to- follow instructions, Rachel details the Shabby Chic basics in a way that will put even the most apprehensive or novice decorators at ease. From flowers to fabrics to lighting, Rachel illuminates all of the elements essential to this unpretentious yet truly exquisite style. A behind-the-scenes look at a flea market lets readers in on Rachel's personal secrets of how to cull hidden treasures from flea market trash--an old trunk, its paint peeling around the edges, can be given new life as a coffee table, while a chipped white iron salvage piece becomes the perfect frame for a vintage mirror. This book tells you not only how to restore these pieces but how to find the perfect place for them in your home. Gorgeous color photographs and accompanying text reveal how this relaxed look works with a variety of different styles, from Victorian to Mediterranean to contemporary.
Beth M. Howard knows about pie. She made pies at California's Malibu Kitchen for celebrities including Barbra Streisand (lemon meringue), Dick Van Dyke (strawberry rhubarb), and Steven Spielberg (coconut cream) before moving back home to rural Iowa. She now lives in the famous American Gothic House (the backdrop for Grant Wood's famous painting) and runs the hugely popular Pitchfork Pie Stand. With full-color photos throughout, Ms. American Pie features 80 of Beth's coveted pie recipes and some of her own true tales to accompany them. With chapters like Pies to Heal, Pies to Seduce, and Pies to Win the Iowa State Fair, Beth will divulge her secret for making a killer crust without refrigerating the dough and will show you how to break every rule you've ever learned about making delicious, homemade pie.
It took a long time before St. Louis finally accepted its Irish population. When the first waves of Famine Irish arrived on the landing in the 1840s, the city was appalled by their poverty. As subsequent waves of Irish fled political oppression after the Civil War, anti-Catholic sentiment sparked bloody riots in which the Irish gave as good as they got. But after seven centuries of enslavement in their own country, nothing would stop them from creating a place in their adopted city. The story of their assimilation is as multifaceted as the Irish character itself. From Shanty to Lace Curtain introduces us to a range of St. Louis Irish, from priests like Timothy Dempsey and Charles Dismas Clark (the "Hoodlum Priest") to gangsters from the Bottoms Gang and Egan's Rats. We meet artists and revolutionaries, entrepreneurs, and entertainers. It takes us to the rough and tumble neighborhoods of 19th-century Kerry Patch and Dogtown, where immigrants and their children forged paths into the city's mainstream while preserving their Irish identity. We visit contemporary Irish St. Louis, where Irish dance and music thrive. At McGurk's Pub and the Pat Connolly Tavern we discover what makes an Irish pub truly Irish. We also learn the behind-the-scenes story of why St. Louis has two St. Patrick Day Parades. Local author and artist Patrick Murphy uses photos, interviews, and photos to compile this comprehensive collection dedicated to the Irish immigrants who helped make St. Louis what it is today.