In My Blood
Whether it’s waltzing on a ballroom floor, mourning a lost love one, or falling in love anew, once our passions are engaged, we discover that our whole lives are really a dance, and that every bit of joy, madness, yearning, grief, and grace that comes out of us has been in our blood all along.
(soft bound, 304 pages)
Excerpt:
I told her we could meet at another dance sometime if she wanted to exchange phone numbers with me. I kept my tone casual, but much was at stake for me.She said she couldn’t do that. She was “in a relationship,” she said. She popped the locks on her black Durango, tossed in her shoe bag, and stood facing me.
“It doesn’t have to be romantic,” I said, though frankly it did, and it would be if given the smallest chance, and I knew as much even if she didn’t or wasn’t sure. “It could just be to have a good time dancing.”
“You know who you remind me of? Looks-wise, I mean? Richard Gere, when he was younger.”
I could see, above her head, the traffic light on Wood Street swinging gently in the breeze. Against its red glow, the cloudy breath from our overheated lungs dissipated in a regular rhythm, hers, mine, hers, mine. I thought about the sudden collision of lives, for good or ill. When the light turned green, I said, “You don’t have to give me your number. You can just take mine.”
I could see she wanted to. Everything teetered for a second, like an over-reached spin turn that’s about to tip over. She said, “My boyfriend would kill me.” Neither of us moved.
.
Red Linen
Only the lucky few get a second chance at life, at love, at happiness. RED LINEN is the tale of an incidental tragedy at a Long Island college. But its real story is the courage and candor of young people, and the instinct for hope in the not-so-young.
(soft bound, 224 pages)
Excerpt:
“Listen,” she says. All the frustration of the past hour gathers behind her brow. I can see that nothing's going to stop her. “Do you know why I'm a teacher in the first place? Don't answer, because I'm gonna tell you. I walked into your classroom five years ago. I heard your voice. It was the kindest voice I ever heard.”
“So what? Charles Boyer had a kind voice. I'll bet Josef Mengele had a kind voice.”
“Don't be an idiot. Because I'm dead serious. I'm telling you, I heard your voice, and I could sense that wounded part of you, and it was just like the wounded part of me. And yet you tried to smile every day, you tried to steady everyone else. And I knew where I wanted to be after that, and who I wanted to be with. I'm not talking about any silly crush. I knew it in the part of me that's never wrong.”
“Don't you be an idiot. I'm not kind and I'm not steady…”
“You don't need to say anything. I'm telling you what I know. I'm thirty years old. I know how I feel, and I'm not waiting quietly for anyone to notice it. Because life is very short.”
“Then don't sell yourself short. Reach for something as good as you are.”
“I am. And the one selling short is you.”
“All right, maybe so. But why do you want to tell me something like this now?”
“When should I tell you if not now? Listen, you can't control who admires you, or who wishes they could've had more of you. Or who loves you. Period.”
There's nothing I can say to that, so I keep my mouth shut.
The Streets of Paradise
She was a proud woman who answered only to love. Beautiful, passionate Gabriella Giambrone defied the outraged whispers of her small Italian village, excommunication from her church, and her lover's betrayal to seek her destiny in a new land...until, out of the past, love set out relentlessly to claim her.
This story of the courageous immigrants who left Italy for the shores of America nearly a century ago has already sold over 60,000 copies. Meticulously researched and gracefully written, it is a beautiful gift for those thirsty to learn or to recall the story of their ancestors, both young and old.Softbound , 343 pages
The Girl In The trunk
Who would murder a beautiful young Fordham University student and leave her body crammed into a trunk amid the sidewalk trash? The slick professor? The anarchist painter? The brutish custodian? The lovesick school principal? The jealous student? The hypocrite dean? For private investigator Mike Villanova, the killing of Elizabeth Albano is more than a crime, but an outrage that opens old wounds and tilts the whole world toward madness, as even his own sweetheart Helen is marked for death and stalked in the darkness.
"At last, a homicide case with intricacy and real weight, and a detective with brains, heart, and a soul...the most literate and engaging mystery thriller to come along in years." --Spectrum
Hardbound, 384 pages, linen-finished, stitched binding, with dust jacket. A handsome volume for any bookshelf, on introductory special discount of $5 off cover price.
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