The Sapphire Widow

The Sapphire Widow
Author: Dinah Jefferies
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2018-08-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0525576347

A sweeping, breathtaking story of love and betrayal from the internationally bestselling author of The Tea Planter's Wife Ceylon, 1935. Louisa Reeve, the daughter of a successful British gem trader, and her husband Elliot, a charming, thrill-seeking businessman, seem like the couple who have it all. Except what they long for more than anything: a child. While Louisa struggles with miscarriages, Elliot is increasingly absent, spending much of his time at a nearby cinnamon plantation, overlooking the Indian ocean. After his sudden death, Louisa is left alone to solve the mystery he left behind. Revisiting the plantation at Cinnamon Hills, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn towards the owner, Leo, a rugged outdoors man with a checkered past. The plantation casts a spell, but all is not as it seems. And when Elliot's shocking betrayal is revealed, Louisa has only Leo to turn to . . .

The Sapphire Widow

The Sapphire Widow
Author: Dinah Jefferies
Publisher: Viking
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-04-05
Genre: British
ISBN: 9780241303771

Nineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Hooper is newly married to a rich and charming widower, eager to join him on his tea plantation, determined to be the perfect wife and mother. But life in Ceylon is not what Gwen expected. The plantation workers are resentful, the neighbors are treacherous. And there are clues to the past - a dusty trunk of dresses, an overgrown gravestone in the grounds - that her husband refuses to discuss. Just as Gwen finds her feet, disaster strikes. She faces a terrible choice, hiding the truth from almost everyone, but a secret this big can't stay buried forever ...

Luke, Widows, Judges, and Stereotypes

Luke, Widows, Judges, and Stereotypes
Author: Febbie C. Dickerson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2019-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1978701241

Biblical narratives are not simply sacred stories for religious communities: They are stories that provide transformative insight into cultural biases. By putting historical criticism and reception history into dialogue with womanist biblical hermeneutics, Luke, Widows, Judges, and Stereotypes offers a provocative reading of Jesus’ parable about a widow who confronts a judge and obtains what she seeks by means of physical threat. Rather than simply reading the widow as the model for “one who prays always and does not lose heart” (Luke 18:1), Dickerson shows that read in the context of Luke’s wider narrative, the widow, domesticated and robbed both of her agency and moral ambiguity, is more likely demanding vengeance instead of justice. Likewise, rather than simply reading the judge as one "who neither feared God nor had respect for people" (Luke 18:2), Dickerson argues that the judge is both an ideal man and one who compromises standards of ancient masculinity. Then, reading both the widow and judge through African American stereotypes (Mammy, Jezebel, Sapphire, Cool Black Male, Master-Pastor, and Foolish Judge) that are used to degrade, debase, and control, and reading them into and in light of the parable, Dickerson demonstrates how the parable calls into question these stereotypes thereby producing new liberative readings.

The Silk Merchant's Daughter

The Silk Merchant's Daughter
Author: Dinah Jefferies
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2016-02-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0241975905

THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER FROM THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE TEA PLANTER'S WIFE Discover a stunning novel is a gripping, unforgettable tale of a woman torn between two worlds... 1952, French Indochina. Since her mother's death, eighteen-year-old half-French, half-Vietnamese Nicole has been living in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Sylvie. When Sylvie is handed control of the family silk business, Nicole is given an abandoned silk shop in the Vietnamese quarter of Hanoi. But the area is teeming with militant rebels who want to end French rule, by any means possible. For the first time, Nicole is awakened to the corruption of colonial rule - and her own family's involvement shocks her to the core... Tran, a notorious Vietnamese insurgent, seems to offer the perfect escape from her troubles, while Mark, a charming American trader, is the man she's always dreamed of. But who can she trust in this world where no one is what they seem? The Silk Merchant's Daughter is a captivating tale of dark secrets, sisterly rivalry and love against the odds, enchantingly set in colonial era Vietnam.

The Sapphire Widow

The Sapphire Widow
Author: Dinah Jefferies
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2018-04-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0241980755

*A Richard & Judy Book Club Pick 2018* *A Top 10 Sunday Times Bestseller* A sweeping, breath-taking story of love and betrayal from the Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of The Tea Planter's Wife Ceylon, 1935. Louisa Reeve, the daughter of a successful British gem trader, and her husband Elliot, a charming, thrill-seeking businessman, seem like the couple who have it all. Except what they long for more than anything: a child. While Louisa struggles with miscarriages, Elliot is increasingly absent, spending much of his time at a nearby cinnamon plantation, overlooking the Indian ocean. After his sudden death, Louisa is left alone to solve the mystery he left behind. Revisiting the plantation at Cinnamon Hills, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn towards the owner Leo, a rugged outdoors man with a chequered past. The plantation casts a spell, but all is not as it seems. And when Elliot's shocking betrayal is revealed, Louisa has only Leo to turn to... 'A sweeping tale, beautifully written in a wonderful setting, heartrending yet ultimately uplifting. Gorgeous.' Katie Fforde 'The sights, smells and atmosphere of Ceylon are beautifully depicted. This is Dinah Jefferies at her best' Lucinda Riley 'Dinah Jefferies has a remarkable gift for conjuring up another time and place with lush descriptions, full of power and intensity' Kate Furnivall

City of Secrets (Battle Dragons #3)

City of Secrets (Battle Dragons #3)
Author: Alex London
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2023-03-07
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1338830651

In a modern mega-city built around dragons, one boy gets caught up in the world of underground dragon battles and a high-stakes gang war that could tear his family apart. Banished from Drakopolis to the desolate frontier town of Glassblower’s Gulch, Abel and his family must face a harsh new reality: life without dragons. Far from the lights and lizards of the megacity, Abel's new home effectively bans the great beasts. Anyone caught smuggling dragons is hauled away by the ruthless sheriff and her fearsome deputies. They have the only dragons in town, and they run the dreaded dragon rodeo, which pits those who fall afoul of the sheriff’s “justice” against a wild dragon in a competition for their freedom. It's dragon versus human and only one can win. Cut off from his friends and desperate to keep his fractious family together, Abel is determined not to break a single rule, even though the sheriff has it out for him. He's going to be a model citizen. Then he discovers the baby wyvern. It’s a tiny, defenseless thing—and it definitely won’t survive without his help. Abel has made it his mission to aid any dragon that needs him. But what is he willing to risk for a baby wyvern in a town without mercy?

The Widow's Kiss

The Widow's Kiss
Author: Jane Feather
Publisher: Bantam
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2008-12-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307493180

Jane Feather has won legions of fans with her irresistible romances that deftly blend mystery and intrigue with exquisitely passionate romance. Now the New York Times-bestselling author of The Least Likely Bride has penned another seductive tale, the unforgettable story of a beautiful noblewoman who has lost four husbands under mysterious circumstances, and the man who is sent to find out if she is an unlucky victim of fate -- or a black widow whose abundant charms hide a heart of ice.... As a lone and wealthy widow in Henry VIII's kingdom, Lady Guinevere Mallory knew that she was in a precarious position. But she never imagined that when danger arrived, it would be in the form of Hugh of Beaucaire, a man with the bluest eyes she'd ever seen. A man of such power and determination that when he rode up to Mallory Hall, intent on claiming a vast tract of her land, Guinevere couldn't suppress a frisson of fear ... or deny a shiver of anticipation. A seasoned soldier, Hugh had seen his share of battle and known his share of women. But nothing had prepared him for the reality of Guinevere -- a woman so elegant and alluring, with luminous eyes and hair the color of palest wheat. And when she smiled her damnable smile, so filled with invitation, Hugh found himself confused, aroused, and infuriated. For he suspected that the widow had committed the blackest of crimes. How else could a woman of eight and twenty have been so unfortunate as to bury four wealthy husbands? How else could she have managed to persuade each of them to sign a marriage contract she herself had drawn up -- documents that ensured she would inherit everything they owned upon their deaths? As Guinevere stalls for time, Hugh begins to investigate her mysterious and tarnished past. Yet even as they try to fathom each other's motives, temptation explodes into a consuming passion, clouding their minds to the coming peril. Whatever Hugh uncovers, he must escort Guinevere to London to face the king and the terrifying and ruthless power of the Lord Privy Seal. And if Guinevere is indeed charged with murder, Hugh knows there's only one way he can save her -- by taking the risk that he will become the next victim of the widow's kiss....