Book Description
From Joan Medlicott, the nationally bestselling author who created the wonderful world of Covington, comes a heartwarming story about three generations of women who find their way past old hurts and losses to understanding, forgiveness, and love.
Winifred Parker climbed her way out of poverty by marrying into one of Philadelphia's oldest, wealthiest families. Now seventy-two years old, she has always felt that her son married beneath him and she has had no contact with her daughter-in-law, Zoe, since her son was killed in Korea.
Zoe Parker lives alone on twenty-eight acres of rural Carolina land that she inherited from her parents. Determined to preserve her property when faced with the threat of foreclosure, Zoe, now in her fifties, has no choice but to turn to her wealthy, estranged mother-in-law.
Katie Parker is a young divorcée whose daughter recently passed away. When she returns home to Zoe's land to heal, she knows enough about her mother's history to be surprised to find her grandmother living there, too.
Though old grievances stand between the three women, new challenges and grave danger cause them to forge a new path together, and they soon find unexpected bonds forming along the way. Joan Medlicott has created an entirely new group of characters you'll want to spend time with in this warm, rich novel about family, friendship, and where the two meet.
Customer Reviews:
A key phrase... "as if".......2007-08-05
A bit of wisdom from this book that I'll carry with me... "as if"... I apply it regularly. I did not give this book more stars solely based on the fact that I was put off by the violence of one passage.
Not all that good .......2007-01-11
About a third of the way into this book I strongly considered just stopping. I decided to go ahead and finish the book since it is such a fast read, but it didn't get much better as it went along.
I thought the premise of the book to be very interesting and was looking forward to reading another book by Ms. Medlicott (author of the Covington series). It didn't live up to my hopes.
The story was very contrived ..... many characters had sudden shifts in behavior that were needed to make everything turn out well in the end and weren't very believable. If you like a story where everyone falls in love and everything turns out just fine in the end (regardless of how unbelieveable it all is), you will like this book. One must suspend any grounding in reality to appreciate this book. One final complaint, there are only TWO Mrs. Parkers, not three !!! The third woman in the books is not a Mrs. Parker, but her maiden name is Parker. This should have been a tip off early about the quality of the rest of the book.
I deeply appreciated this brilliantly woven tale! Highly recommended........2006-01-30
A wonderful story about a middle-aged widow in danger of losing her family's home, who must swallow her pride and turn to her snobbish mother-in-law, a woman who turned her back on her own son when he "married beneath him", for financial assistance. In return, the ailing mother-in-law must face coming down off her high horse and recognizing her late son's wife for the wonderful person she is. Mediating the reconciliation is a woman grieving the death of her handicapped daughter, who helps both her mother and grandmother forgive past hurts and move forward together, all while healing her own pain.
This is my first experience with this author, and it surely won't be my last. This is a very well-written story, told from the heart, of love, life and forgiveness. I felt a strong emotional connection to the characters as they worked through their differences and come to a greater understanding of the other.
Unlearning hate.......2005-10-09
When Zoe Parker is in danger of losing the house and land bequeathed to her by her parents, she asks her mother in law for financial assistance. Widowed Zoe and her mother in law Winifred, have always been at loggerheads, with Winifred insisting that her late son married beneath him, and, because of her stubborness and pride, has cut off contact with Zoe and her daughter, Katie. Saying that she would need to see the property before investing her money and, not mentioning the fact that she has a serious illness looming, she comes for a visit and immediately puts everyone's back up with her domineering ways and arrogance. Katy has also moved in with her mother after the death of her severely handicapped daughter, but without knowing any of the details of Winifred's hurtful attitude to Zoe and her refusal to help in the years following the death of Zoe's husband, cuts through the barrier of years to become very attached to her grandmother. This is the story of three generations of women of the same family, trying to bond, trying to forgive and trying to make sense of their lives at this point. I don't know that I'd be quite as forgiving to such a hurtful person, even if I did know her background and some of the reasons for her behaviour, but then, perhaps I'm not of such a generous spirit as these women!
Readable.......2005-06-12
This is not normally my kind of book, but having just read
Broken Prey, needed a change of pace. This book is ok, however
there are not 3 Mrs. Parkers. Two and one Ms or Miss Parker.
Also it's nuts that one could not pay off a $39,000 loan on
50 acres of land. Zoe could have worked at a fast food place
and made enough for the payments, even if she had bad credit.
She evidently had enought money for satellite tv as she turned
on CNN, but hey, you got to have a story. If you like books about feelings and forgiveness, etc you probably would like this.
I'm going back to my type of book and will start The Closers.
Product Description
From Joan Medlicott, the nationally bestselling author who created the wonderful world of Covington, comes a heartwarming story about three generations of women who find their way past old hurts and losses to understanding, forgiveness, and love.
Product Description
LARGE PRINT 2005 Joan Medlicott creates the kind of characters most of us want as family, neighbors, and friends in other words, she writes about kindhearted, generous people who fail, persevere, and are ultimately triumphant over their worst traits. In The Three Mrs. Parkers, three generations of women are forced to live together due to health problems, financial mismanagement, and a child's death. At seventy-two, the first Mrs. Parker, Winifred, has lost both her husband and only son, been forced into retirement by her husband's partners, and is experiencing health problems. Like Winifred's mother-in-law before her, she was never convinced that Zoe, her daughter-in-law, was good enough for her son. Having been forced into being what her mother-in-law wanted, Winifred is unyielding when it's her time to become the family's matriarch. Her son, Steve, is stronger than her husband; consequently, her pride causes an irreparable estrangement. Zoe, Winifred's daughter-in-law, has managed to build a life without her mother-in-law's approval or money. While she was devastated by her husband's death, she's found the emotional resources to rear Katie (her daughter and only child) and find her own place in the community. At fifty-two, she's made several bad financial decisions and is facing foreclosure on her property. Inviting Winifred to live with her is both a desperate measure and final resort. When Katie's handicapped daughter dies, she returns to the solace of her mother's home and land. To her great surprise, Katie finds herself drawn to the grandmother she's never known. To Zoe's horror, she's jealous of the bond between Winifred and Katie. She's spent years repressing her anger and resentment and finds it impossible to keep her feelings to herself. Through a series of misfortunes, the three women find themselves forming a family. The Three Mrs. Parkers is a heartwarming story of reconciliation.
Amazon.com
The disreputable, bigoted, dirty-mouthed but oddly likable Ollie Weeks, a walk-on in Ed McBain's popular 87th Precinct series, gets a book of his own here: not just the mystery of who killed a popular mayoral candidate a few days before the election, but the one Ollie, improbably, is writing. Pity the schmuck who lifts Ollie's only copy of his manuscript from his car--not only is its author in desperate need of what he's sure will be his ticket to fame and fortune, but the befuddled miscreant somehow believes that the caper recounted in Ollie's book is a real one, and that he's in possession of a blueprint for the crime that will allow him to cash in on it. This is a fast, funny read from the master--like a valentine to his fans while they wait for his next big one. --Jane Adams
Book Description
Murders happen every day in the big bad city. They're not such a big deal, you know. Even when the victim is a city councilman as well-known as Lester Henderson.
But this is the first time Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th Precinct has written a novel, ah yes. Called Report to the Commissioner, it follows a cunning detective named Olivia Wesley Watts, who, apart from being female and slim, is rather like Fat Ollie himself. While Ollie's responding to the squeal about the dead councilman, his leather dispatch case is stolen from the back of his car -- and in it, the only copy of his precious manuscript.
Joined by Carella and Kling from the neighboring 87th Precinct, Ollie investigates the homicide with all the exquisite crudeness, insensitivity, and determination for which he is famous. But the theft of his first novel fills Ollie with a renewed passion for old-fashioned detective work.
Following the exploits of one of Ed McBain's most beloved detectives, this lively and complicated tale -- the fifty-second in the award-winning 87th Precinct series -- is McBain at his best.
Download Description
"Murders happen every day in the big bad city. They're not such a big deal, you know. Even when the victim is a city councilman as well known as Lester Henderson. But this is the first time Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th Precinct has written a novel, ah yes. Called Report to the Commissioner, it follows a cunning detective named Olivia Wesley Watts, who, apart from bebf. While Ollie's responding to the squeal about the dead councilman, his leather dispatch case is stolen from the back of his car -- and in it, the only copy of his precious manuscript. Joined by Carella and Kling from the neighboring 87th Precinct, Ollie investigates the homicide with all the exquisite crudeness, insensitivity, and determination for which he is famous. But the theft of his first novel fills Ollie with a renewed passion for old-fashioned detective work. Following the exploits of one of Ed McBain's most beloved detectives, this lively and complicated novel -- the fifty-second in the award-winning 87th Precinct series -- is perhaps his best book yet. "
Customer Reviews:
Good 87th Precinct with a Light Touch.......2007-06-28
You can't go wrong with any 87th Precinct tale but this was has the added attraction of having Fat Ollie from the 88th as a main character. He is a shulb but despite his non-PC take on life the author allows him to still be a good detective. The book uses the ploy of Fat Ollie's stolen manuscript as a subtext. The long quotes from Ollie's book are good as over the top examples of bad writing and are actually blended into the book's plot. The book is a quick and fun read. It is a nice change of pace for the usual 87th crew. The book is written in the time when 9/11 was still hanging over the country. It is poignant to go back to that time of shared feelings.
Another winner.......2007-04-08
I've read most of the mysteries in the 87th Precinct series and haven't found a klinker in the lot. I envy readers who've not yet discovered them, because they have a treat ahead. That said, this is perhaps the best of the lot. Alas, there will be no more. Evan Hunter, aka Ed McBain, is no longer amongst us.
There are two major plots working here. First, there is the murder of a city councilman and wannabe mayor; it's in there so we can have the second plot, Ollie's stolen novel, the story it contains with Ollie's pursuit of the perp who stole it. Both plots weave nicely together. The atmosphere is police procedural in a big city. Only Michael Connelly is McBain's equal in this sub-genre. The characters, especially the obnoxious, egotistical, pitiful, elephantine Ollie, are excellent. No one wrote dialogue better than McBain/Hunter--with the possible exception of Lawrence Block.
It was a pleasure to read this book. My only fault with it is that it ended before I wanted to let it go.
Fat Ollie: McBain's answer to the politically correct........2005-10-31
Fat Ollie Weeks of the 88th Precinct. Make that Detective Weeks. Master Detective Weeks, greatest detective in history. Or so Ollie thinks.
Ollie is everything a modern white man is not supposed to be. He's obese, tasteless, crude, tactless, a bigot, a man deluded about his own charm and appeal and a few other things that are not charitably viewed in our day. He's also a good detective, albeit not the most intelligent one.
Ollie has written a novel called "Report to the Commissioner." Someone steals it from a police vehicle parked at the scene of a crime, right under the nose of a uniformed officer.
Ollie is determined to track his novel down - while solving a murder or two and a few other crimes along the way.
Meanwhile, the drug addicted transvestite who stole Ollie's novel (penned under the name Olivia Wesley Watts) is desperately searching for the seemingly imperiled authoress - and the hoard of diamonds she is protecting.
This was McBain's 52nd 87th Precinct novel. I've read only a few of them and, while I wouldn't call this the best of what I've read to date, it is certainly the funniest.
I have no idea if McBain intended some sort of symbolism with his Fat Ollie character. The man would definitely, despite his police skills, not someone you would invite home for dinner. But taken as entertainment, Fat Ollie is a total hoot and well worth spending some time with. His faux novel (all 36 pages of it) is hilarious in its own right.
Jerry
JOYOUSLY ANACHRONISTIC.......2005-07-21
If the classic British mystery seemed to take place entirely in the drawing room of a stately country manor and the classic American one involved a hard-boiled private eye working entirely on his own, the formula he crafted took an entire squad of detectives and set them down on the streets of a tough city -- the fictional Isola standing in for his own New York. His books seemed more realistic because the cops were more recognizably like us, with girlfriends, wives, and families and problems with bureaucratic politics. His large cast of regulars allowed him to develop multiple storylines and to shift his focus around the station house. To the extent that there was a central figure it would have to be Steve Carella, earnest, morally centered, with a deaf wife, Teddy.
Carella is on the case here, partnered with Bert Kling, who's been the naive junior member of the team for half a century now. But pride of place is given to Detective Oliver Wendell Weeks, the "Fat Ollie" of the title. Part of the delight of the books is that over time they've become completely anachronistic. Mr. McBain kept writing his characters as he'd invented them, but let the background events reflect the present day. So 9-11 and the war in Afghanistan are frequent touchpoints in the story but Fat Ollie is like Archie Bunker before Norman Lear got ahold of him. The idea that a cop could get away in the year 2002 with being as vociferously racist, sexist, and homophobic as Weeks has remained is obviously ludicrous. However, it's quite amusing to watch him cut a swathe through politically correct times.
The mystery involves the shooting death of a city councilmen who was about to declare for mayor and the theft of the novel that Fat Ollie had just finished. The murder is pretty stock stuff, but the police author plot gives Mr. McBain an opportunity to riff on the very genre he invented and wield a rather poison pen. At one point Ollie meets yet another cop who's written a novel of his own:
That's what we need, all right, Ollie thought. Another novel about police work. There used to be no novels about police work at all. Then, all of a sudden -- God knows who or what the influence might have been -- every sh[odd]y town in America had a fictitious character working out of a detective squadroom. To look at all these police novels out there, you'd think every hamlet in America was overrun with crime. Dumb little village has a population of six hundred people, according to these novels there are murders being committed there every hour on the hour.
Even as it drips with a fair amount of bitterness -- Mr. McBain even wanted to sue the creators of Hill Street Blues for pilfering his ideas -- that's awfully funny stuff. Doing things like dropping in such metafictional discourse earned the later books a reputation for greater ambition, but the older, more straightforward entries are even more enjoyable.
What is McBain's fascination with this character?.......2005-02-23
Now a whole book featuring McBain's least likeable character, Ollie Weeks. Fat Ollie's written a book and during the investigation of a mayoral candidate's murder someone steals it from Ollie's car. now the hunt is on. The murder case is pushed to the back burner as we are punished with excerpts from Ollie's book, Ollie in lust,and meeting someone even more loathsome than Ollie, his snitch the pederast Fats Donner. Enough already! Coupled with a fairly simplistic mystery, this book is McBain at his weakest, scattered and barely able to hold the interest of the reader.
Customer Reviews:
Move over Agatha Christie.......1999-07-11
I have to say that this book and all of DJ Donaldson's books are simply amazing. I've read everything by him and I am always wanting more. His books are real page turners. If you love New Orleans, and like a good mystery with enough forensic detail to stump a PI, you should take the time to explore these mysteries
Customer Reviews:
From Back Cover.......2005-08-26
Through the sultry heat and Spanish moss of the Louisiana bayou, three teens witnessed a friend's murder. Bringing the killer to justice, they become blood brothers. From boys to men, nothing could break that bond... except a killer's revenge.
Bayou Blood Brothers - Their secrets are darker.. their passions run deeper.
TYLER by Rebecca York: the street-kid-turned fed. On his last case for the Bureau, Tyler hadn't counted on being sold out - nor on taking the beautiful Gabby Lanier, his dead friend's sister, as his hostage.
NICK by Metsy Hingle: the privileged one. It wa hard enough returning to the bayou for the wedding of Nick's only love, Caroline Donovan. Even worse to find himself falsely accused of murdering the groom.
JULES by Joanna Wayne: the bayou bad boy. He tried to bury the past - but passion for his first lover, the wealthy Adrienne Breaux, wouldn't die. Nor would the man who vowed sweet revenge on him and his friends...
"TYLER" IS BEST NOVELLA.......2001-10-15
"TYLER" in BAYOU BLOOD BROTHERS was just selected as the
winner of the 2001 Golden Leaf Award for Novellas by the
New Jersey Romance Writers.
Bayou Blood Brothers.......2001-03-17
Three authors deliver three very good connected stories in "Bayou Blood Brothers," the tales of three childhood friends threatened by someone from their past. Readers looking for steamy suspense will find it here, though some may wish the authors had written a trilogy of three separate books so they could have had more of these stories.
Rebecca York begins the set with "Tyler." An undercover federal agent is surprised when his latest case brings him into the life of the sister of his boyhood friend. Tyler feels he let her brother down. When killers chase them into the bayou, can he do right by her? York doesn't have much room to tell her story, since she has to provide the prologue that sets up the trilogy and the events that lead into the next two tales. Eighty pages isn't much to tell a whole story. As a result, there isn't much to "Tyler," a straightforward couple-on-the-run tale with few surprises but good suspense and a high level of sensuality. There aren't many twists and some may have trouble believing these two could fall in love in such a short period of time. Good atmosphere and page-turning suspense do compensate. Fans of constant action and steamy love scenes will find them here. Four Stars.
Surprisingly, the best story in the set doesn't come from an Intrigue author but from Metsy Hingle. In "Nick," a man returns to his hometown for his brother's wedding to the only woman he's ever loved. When his brother is murdered, Nick becomes the prime suspect. Can he find the truth and reclaim the only woman for him? Hingle's story is the best because she manages to combine all the elements of a full-length Intrigue into her eighty pages. Both characters have interesting and involved histories that make them seem more three-dimensional. Hingle keeps her characters in constant danger, but she also spaces her story over several days. It is fast-paced but doesn't feel rushed. This is the only story where I really felt like the characters had a chance to talk about their relationship. By the end I was convinced they would last as a couple. A good mystery, dangerous situations and enjoyable antagonists make this a joy to read. It's not easy to pull off in eighty pages (some writers can't do it in 250). Hingle does it with ease. Five stars.
Joanna Wayne finishes the set with "Jules." A murder brings Jules close to the truth of the man out to get him and his friends. It also reunites him with his first love. Can Jules protect her when her involvement with him puts her in danger? Wayne's story is a solid follow-up to the second one. It has some good character development and twists along the way. The climax is somewhat weak. The dangerous situation the characters find themselves in is so contrived I couldn't understand how this could be happening to intelligent people. Wayne does offer some chilling scenes and confrontations with a truly evil villain to keep readers turning the pages and the romance is solid. Four Stars.
The Louisiana bayou country is a setting that has mostly been forgotten in Intrigues (out of the last 100 Intrigues, only one full novel and one novella were set in Louisiana, both in New Orleans). It's a shame these stories couldn't have been offered as three separate books to allow readers to spend more time in this setting and the authors more time to build their stories. The idea was strong enough to support a trilogy. For what it is though, readers looking for fast reads will enjoy "Bayou Blood Brothers," so much they'll probably wish there was more of it.
Product Description
Multiple books shipped as one item. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.
Customer Reviews:
Great book for one that never made it to the shelves!.......1999-02-06
It is always amusiing to see one's books listed as Out-of-Print when they were never in print! Frenchman's Blood, the first in the current Alan Graham (Moundmaster) series by Avon, dates to a period before Alan Graham was even Alan Graham. It is even pre-Pepper Courtney. Here is a case of the publisher going belly-up after listing the book in the catalog and giving the book a spurious life. Some day the work may yet reach the shelves. Until then, enjoy looking at the icon!
Book Description
Ethics for Everyone
Is it always wrong to lie? Is it always right to try to help another person? Are you bound to keep every promise you make? In Ethics for Everyone: How to Increase Your Moral Intelligence, you'll find out how well you make moral choices and learn how to increase your ability to understand and analyze ethical dilemmas. This sensible, practical guide provides thoughtful-and sometimes surprising-answers to tough real-world questions. You'll sort through dozens of tricky ethical issues with the help of:
- Twenty-one dramatic true stories showing real-life ethics in action- and you are asked to make ethical choices
- A personal ethics quiz to determine your own ethical potential
- Harm and benefits assessments of various courses of action
- Expert opinions from spiritual leaders, counselors, attorneys, psychologists, and other experts
Customer Reviews:
Excellent for Discussion.......2006-02-04
This is a book that supplies more examples than just "what it is" when dealing with ethics. There is so much here that occurs in important decisions either we or our friends and relatives encounter regularly, that I recommend it to anyone who wants to have a dialogue with another person, or a group of people. It especially lends itself to group discussion. As a teacher, I borrowed from "Ethics for Everyone" to bring out something from each of my students in discussion--including the "quiet ones." It's not necessarily that it's a textbook; it was not written that way, but it can be a text or just good reading for thinking and kicking it around with your friends.
For Beginners Only.......2005-05-25
While this book had a lot of potential, it doesn't live up to it. If you have given practical ethics any serious thought you are beyond this book's target audience. Perhaps if the concept is new for you this is a worthwhile read.
This will make you think and grow........2005-05-07
This book is filled with a general introduction to practical ethical questions and with real-life scenarios about which you are asked the ethical thing to do. After you have pondered each scenario, you are presented with a discussion of the issues and both the author's reactions and that of at least one other person. Whether you come to the same conclusions as the author or not, the scenarios are excellent tools to make you think and the book is well worth reading and serious study.
ethics 101.......2004-11-08
This was a good book on a subject that is tough for me...
I have read this book twice, the first time on my own the second as part of an online class... I was somewhat interested in ethics the first time I read the book and therefore did not finish the book. Again, ethics is a little tough for me. The second time I read this book, I was interested, applied myself, did some self-reflection and got quite a bit out of this book. It was excellent...
My take home message is this: If you are interested in ethics and will apply yourself this book is well worth your money. I got more out of this book than I did out of all of my graduate and undergraduate classes. If you are not interested in ethics... well if you are not interested in ethics, why are you even looking at this book in the first place????
This Book Is A Disappointment.......2003-01-01
I thought from the topics covered, and the approach to the topic, that this book had significant potential. However, it was so poorly executed, I stopped reading without even getting halfway through.
Much of the discussion that takes place in the so-called "case studies" include opinions of people who are writers, journalists, psychologists, etc, who have made no special study of ethics or morality. If I want the opinions of average people, I can talk to my friends.
I was hoping this book would have some insight, and to a certain extent, this is provided in the first section. But beyond that, this book is of little use. I will need to look elsewhere for a good book on this topic.
Books:
- The Turner Diaries: A Novel
- The Wandering Hill: The Berrybender Narratives, Book 2 (Berry Bender Narratives, No 2)
- Timequake
- Tooth and Claw : and Other Stories
- Unique's Ending
- Upstate : A Novel (Alex Awards (Awards))
- When Rabbit Howls
- Where Is Joe Merchant? A Novel Tale
- Whoreson: The Story of a Ghetto Pimp
- Women I Have Dressed (and Undressed!)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Sound of Waves
- Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers
- Lives of Girls and Women: A Novel
- Kull: Exile of Atlantis
- History: Fiction or Science
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- Memoir of Hungary, 1944-1948
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Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
A Covington Christmas (Ladies of Covington)
Two Days After the Wedding (Ladies of Covington)
The Spirit of Covington: A Novel (Ladies of Covington)
At Home in Covington (Ladies of Covington)
From the Heart of Covington: A Novel (Covington)
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