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Autumn Evans has a career she loves, a wedding to plan, and a secret that could destroy both. Even though her job--working with underprivileged kids at a Compton school--is deeply fulfilling, Autumn feels something is missing from her life. Her fiancé Matthew, a successful and ambitious surgeon, expects Autumn to assume the role of perfect partner, but lately she feels her sense of control slipping away. . .

When a crisis hits and Autumn is physically injured, she returns to her childhood home to heal. There, she slowly begins to question everything she's come to accept about herself, her family, and her man, especially as she watches her mother and sister deal with their own relationship dilemmas. But soon Autumn realizes that she needs to make a choice, between fighting for what she once wanted, or claiming a life that's new and untested. . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Finding Me
Life is wonderful for Autumn Evans.She's a fifth grade teacher for underprivileged children and engaged to a successful surgeon.However, Autumn is leading a secret life as a sex addict and this could destroy everything she dearly loves.She tries to gain control of her addiction on her own, but she's losing the battle.

One horrible night, Autumn is attacked and beaten within inches of her life.After being released from the hospital, she returns to her parents' home to recuperate and finds their marriage is headed for disaster because of her mother's secrets and constant meddling.Her sister, Lacy invites Autumn to stay with her for a while, but she is battling her own relationship issues with her husband.

Autumn begins to put the pieces of her life back together after her secret is revealed.She realizes there are things she has to accept about herself and makes a choice of fighting for what she once had or start a fresh new life.

BACK TO BASICS is a story of love, hope, family, degradation and redemption.The storyline is interesting and a topic people don't hear or read much about.The author did a good job with the flow of the book as I finished reading it in one day.However, I would like to have seen more character development and a detailed beginning of Autumn's sexual addiction and recovery.This is my first time reading a book by Phillips, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her books.

Reviewed by Sharon Lewis
of The RAWSISTAZ (tm) Reviewers
... Read more

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Describes the construction of one of the newest Washington monuments, a memorial to the thirty-second president. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An informative and inspiring book
"The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial," by Anne Phillips, tells the story behind the monument to one of the United States' most important presidents. The book combines a straightforward text with a wealth of photographs (both color photos and historic black-and-white photos). There is also a map of the memorial.

The book contains a brief biography of FDR and tells the historical story of the memorial from the early planning stage to its dedication in 1997. Philips discusses the contributions of architect Lawrence Halprin and the other creative people who helped give life to the memorial. There are many images of the statues and inscriptions at the memorial. I especially liked the statue of FDR's Scottish terrier, Fala, and the inscription of his Four Freedoms. Phillips also discusses the controversy over whether or not to depict FDR's disability in the memorial.

This book is very educational, and also inspiring. I've never seen the FDR memorial, and this book makes me want to visit it. And that's probably the best compliment I can pay to a book of this nature. ... Read more

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If colonialism was the product of capitalism, as conventional wisdom would have it, why were the intersts of capitalism so ill-served? This is the central enigma which Anne Phillips confronts in this study of British colonial policy formulation in West Africa.North America: Indiana U Press ... Read more

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Anthology from award winning authors; a collection of stories and novellas.Ann Phillips, Editor ... Read more

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Author Profiles from upcoming books feature in RT Book Club
A great variety read! Several short stoies or novellas! You get VOODOO, THE FRENCH QUARTER< NEW ORLEANS, MARIE LAVEAU, Angels Haunting on a mission saving mortals, maybe...
GHOST PIRATE SHIPS, HAUNTED LIGHTHOUSES, PARIS CRIMINAL MINDS Angel OR LA FEMME FATALE?'tis a ghooostly nites reading; dont worry if something goes bump, its probably the goose ones on your skin...haahahaaahaahaaa

The unexplained comes to life in the new Angel & Ghost Mysteries Collection. AWARD WINNING SOUTHERN AUTHORS lead by
MARTI PHILLIPS (aka Anne Phillips), who weaves a strange phenomenon into a Gulf Coast murder mystery in The Ghost Ships,and a journey to Camelot uncovers knightly ghosts in her romance, Merlin's Secret. "We authors sometimes create a character that becomes our favorite to re-create. In my novella, The Ghost Ships, I brought back Jessica, an 1820s newspaper reporter who fights for respect in a "male" profession and to rescue her smuggler seized fiancé.My medieval romantic suspense, "Merlin's Secret" has an exiled and bitter Duchess, her younger rogue knight who falls for her, and the ghoulish hosts of Camelot returned, all pitted against the darkest evil forces."
Donna Diamond Kordela stuns and chills with her true to setting tale of the voodoo Mardi Gras Doll, Majolica, touched by the mysterious witch queen of the Olod French Quarter.
With her contemporary short stories, A Scent Of Roses, and Promise of Angels,Barbara Deming spins delightful tales of both an angel and a spirit. Barbara says, "I believe in angels.I am sure I have had them touch my life, and, if I look around, there's probably one sitting on my shoulder as I write.I saw the movie, "Michael," four times and every re-run of "Touched by an Angel."I decided to call on my angels, Jeremiah and Delilah who visited me when I least expected and told me of the "Old One's" assignment (for them on Earth). The story progressed as if on its own. I hope you enjoy meeting them."
Jacqueline (Mage) Gibson and Marti, writing as Anne Phillips takes the fast lane into the world of racing stars and high fashion models with Fast Track to Murder."A long time fan of auto racing, I combined the media hype with the glamorous Paris runway, in this case a volatile and deadly mix."

Anne Phillips also conjures up a playful spirit with a puppy who touches young lives in The Haunted Lighthouse. "I don't know what I was going to ask, or say to the angel or spirit or whatever as I went into the lighthouse cabin. There was mostly a honey-colored gloom, the sun rays were fading. Suddenly, in the last one beside the stair I saw something waver and then, hazily come into focus. My heart skittered and I sought my breath. A man, a handsome dark haired man...and I knew he wore a mid 1800s sea captain's attire - the goldbuttons on a dark blue coat, the braid on his well formed hat.
"Captain...Jonas Tybee?" I managed though a dry mouth.
"Yes, Ma'am," the tall form replied in a rich male voice, becoming clearer. "I have come to fetch my darling Susie. Have you seen her?"

Donna (Kordela) Diamond, author of the New Orleans suspense, Majolica, says of crossing genres with the paranormal:"Adding these elements to your writing can make the author a bit of the psychic detective, delivering to readers a heightened sense of awareness and wonder.Angels, ghosts, psychics, mediums, shamans, and clairvoyance enrich fiction. There is an appetite for angels now in books/media, a spiritual hunger to explain what we can't explain in a philosophical real world. In my darker novella, Majolicais a doll with psychic connections to art as life. Is this doll alive?"Majolica leaned alone on an antique store shelf. I don't buy dolls. But, she spoke to me. Not in a verbal sense but one permeated by chilled silence through my whole being. She knew me somehow, appearing as one you might see in the Cirque du Soleil or dressed to kill in a Mardi Gras parade. How could I-albeit a fiction writer-play into that romantic notion spun in my head?Her eyes in a white painted face haunted me with a loneliness and desire to find someone, even as a sense of dread filled my soul.Majolica, from her gold tipped toes to her regal turban was exotic and spellbinding. In my heart she held my hand in her own porcelain one...cold to the touch but warm in spirit.I needed a friend amid the Yuppie bars, exotic cuisine, art relics and tapestries and...yes, murders in the underworld belly of the French..Quarter.She was dressed in black, a symbol of death. I didn't want to buy her. But I was compelled..."
[...] ... Read more

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Discusses the importance of the ocean and seashore to life on earth, the serious problems caused by pollution, and what can be done to save this essential resource. ... Read more

Product Description
The readings in this collection focus on the problems and dilemmas that feminists have raised in exploring the demand for sexual equality, and the tension that runs through feminist politics between claiming equality and asserting that the sexes are different. The starting point is the common history that feminism shares with liberalism, for both traditions have made their arguments in terms of equal rights, and both insist on the autonomy of the individual (female for the former, usually only male for the latter). But despite - or because of - the continuing importance of liberal feminism, there has been a substantial critique of this tradition which draws on classically socialist arguments about the limits of equal rights, but also develops a specifically feminist argument around the relationship between public and private spheres. "Feminism and Equality" includes writings from such authors as Juliet Mitchell, Michele Barrett, Jean Bethke Elshtain and Ellen DuBois to provide students of politics and philosophy with a guide to the political theory of feminism. ... Read more

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Textbook on Land Law guides students through the principles of contemporary land law from a practical perspective. It focuses on the modern law, confining discussion of historical developments to the minimum, necessary to understand basic principles and concentrate on the law as it is now.

The book is consistently recommended to students for its accuracy and ease of use. It is written in a direct and informal style, explaining the law in non-technical language and warning of possible misunderstandings and confusions. Rules are illustrated by reference to real-life situations in a fictitious town, bringing the subject to life and enhancing the reader's understanding of problem areas. Useful features include a glossary, sample documents and further reading references.

The unique and straightforward approach taken by the authors has established Textbook on Land Law as the ultimate practical land law book and makes the subject interesting and accessible.

Online Resource Centre

The accompanying Online Resource Centre includes additional detail in relation to certain areas, designed for those needing to have a greater knowledge of some older or more complex areas of land law. It also includes annotated web links and regular cases and legislation updates. ... Read more

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A major new novel that depicts the challenges of family life with contemporary force and timeless grace, from the acclaimed author of Machine Dreams and Shelter.

Formerly free-spirited, unattached Kate enters into roles of enormous responsibility: as she takes the first steps into a new marriage complete with her own beloved infant and two lively young stepsons, she becomes caregiver to her ailing mother, the strong woman who has been her guiding star and counterpart across a divide of experience and time. Kate must, in a single year, confront profound loss alongside radiant beginnings.

Jayne Anne Phillips transforms quotidian details into a shimmering whole, giving us Kate and her family in all the complexity their world offers. Phillips’ renowned skill at portraiture combines with her equally nuanced sense of narrative in this heartstrong and delicately layered novel.Amazon.com Review
Although we know from its first page that the protagonist's mother is dyingof cancer, Jayne Anne Phillips's rich, involving novel is not a story ofloss but of connection. Thirty-year-old Kate, an unmarried poet, hastraveled home to tell her mother, Katherine, that she is expecting achild. A few months later, Katherine will be compelled to move into herdaughter's chaotic suburban household.

The birth of Kate's baby approached and her mother consented to chemotherapy, consented to leaving home,consented to never going home again, where she'd livedall her life. She crossed all those lines in her wheelchair,without a whimper, moving down an airport walkway. In its cage, her little dog made a sound. "Hush," she said.

Though her third novel may contain all the emotional ingredients of amade-for-television movie, Phillips avoids tear-jerking through the useof precisely observed details (the plastic medicine spoon for hermother's morphine, the Christmas songs that double as lullabies forlittle Alexander) and the absence of cliché. She has even side-stepped,at the end, the requisite death-bed scene, knowing that there is almostno way left to write about such moments without recourse to receivedlanguage and images. MotherKind uncovers the mixed sources of maternalstrength in love, habit, and necessity. --Regina Marler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Dissapointed
I'm officially done with Jayne Anne Phillips. Having read Lark and Termite and now MotherKind I know for certain that she is definitely not my type.I found the novel extremely boring. You all enjoy if you want, maybe this book is for you, but you'll have to judge yourselves. It is definitely not my kind of book.

And the point is.........
This book had great potential, but no point. There were so many loose ends. I guess that's like life, but it doesn't make for good reading. Ugh. Painful.

A MEDITATION ON DEATH AND BIRTH AND LIVING
I didn't find this novel to be the easiest thing to read that I've picked up in the last few months -- but, that being said, I felt that the beauty of the language compelled me to finish it, once I had begun.

Jayne Anne Phillips has taken on a monumental task in writing this book.She has reduced the events and emotions of life-changing events -- the birth of a child, the agony and ecstasy of breastfeeding, and the at-home hospice care of a dying mother -- into words, onto the printed page.Her observations and meditations of these events are illuminating and moving.The seemingly everyday events in the lives of her characters take on a luminosity usually only bestowed by painters on their subjects.Things we take for granted -- a walk down the street to the market, a confidence shared with a friend, the touch of a mother's hand -- all take on an importance that is magnified.This magnification is not a falsification -- it is an opportunity for us to realize the importance of small things, an importance too often overlooked in our busy lives.This novel, then, becomes a study in priorities.

I had a hard time getting past the first 100 pages or so -- and I think, in retrospect, I can attribute this to the author's pursuit of the 'mundane' details in everyday living.When I finally accustomed myself to the style she employed, I was able to relax more, take my time, and relish her creation.

As far as other works I've read by Phillips, I must say that I enjoyed her novel SHELTER a bit more -- but her talent is genuine and accomplished, and I look forward to reading other works.

Lastly, I have to say that this is a book that should be read by more male readers -- its subject (mother-daughter relations and the birth/breastfeeding experience) might tend to cause it to be classified as 'women's fiction', but that would be doing it a disservice.It would also cause it to be passed over by men who could use the lessons it teaches in order to allow them to better relate to their female counterparts.Understanding and empathy can go a long way in strengthening a relationship -- and we could all use a little more understanding, especially between the sexes.

Wonderful
America's greatest author triumphs again with this absolutely stunning new work. Returning to themes familiar to her many loyal readers, Phillips incontrovertibly demonstrates that no other author could find so many interesting ways to present the same material again and again. Her boundless creativity and unique ability to take language into new and unexplored realms sets her apart from every other writer. Like so many other devoted fans, I am eagerly awaiting her next great work, which will doubtless offer the same level of pure excellence as this one.

Didn't finish it
This is one of those books that I wanted to like more than I did. The characters are interesting and the sense of time and place are moving, but ultimately it didn't move me. I suggest people take it out of the library or buy a used copy (as I did) if they're going to buy it. ... Read more

Product Description
A focus on the issues of class has provided much of the content of twentieth-century debates on democracy, with liberal democrats seeking to discount class differences and social democrats trying to find ways to eliminate them. Within this framework, attention has historically been given to such questions as the substantive conditions necessary to fulfill the promise of political equality, the appropriate scope of democratic decisionmaking, and the tension between an individualist politics of rights and a more collectivist notion of the common good. While these questions remain important, the context of the debate has shifted significantly during the past decade as perceptions of what differences should count for politics have changed. The preoccupation with class has weakened as other group differences have moved to the forefront of the agenda of democratic politics in the face of continuing second-class citizenship for women worldwide, the persistence of racial conflict in the U.S., and the emergence of ethnic hostilities in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Tracing the author's own intellectual and political development during this period of change, the essays in this collection share two important common themes. On the one hand, they argue that we must give up on the yearning for undifferentiated unity as the basis for democratic politics. On the other hand, they point to the dangers of forgetting the continued salience of class and of abandoning all aspirations towards universality, which could lead to an individualist politics of self-interest or the reinforcement of merely local identities in which people can speak only to their immediate groups. Inspired by a vision of democracy through difference, Anne Phillips calls for a 'politics of democratic engagement' that neither denies nor capitulates to the particularity of group identity but promotes the construction of broader community and solidarity through the active involvement of people trying to sort out their differences themselves. ... Read more

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Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) is arguably the most widely read 19th-century American author. She has long been a staple of children's literature courses, and her works now also receive significant attention in American studies and women's studies classes. This reference collects in a comprehensive and reliable single volume the most important facts about Alcott's life and works. It surveys the basic biographical details of her family and personal life; it supplies essential information on her historical and cultural contexts, including her place in the 19th-century publishing milieu, various reform movements, and major historical events, such as the Civil War; and it treats her writings, both the adult and children's works, in an accurate, informative, and accessible manner. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Provides an excellent reference
College-level students of Alcott's works will find the Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia to be a fine reference examining the biographical details of Alcott's life and family. From her place in 19th century history and publishing achievements to her adult and children's writings as a whole, the Louisa May Alcott Encyclopedia provides an excellent reference. ... Read more