Showing results by narrator "Nancy Wu" in All Categories

When 34-year-old Ms Shibata gets a new job in Tokyo to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that, as the only woman at her new workplace—a company that manufactures cardboard tubes—she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day, she announces that she can't clear away her colleagues' dirty cups—because she's pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is...Ms Shibata is not pregnant.

Wife-wanted ads are always risky business, but Millie Virginia never imagined she'd survive the perilous trip across the Great Plains to find her intended husband in a pine box. Was he killed in an accident? Or murdered for his gold mine? Stuck in the mining town of Idaho Springs, Colorado territory, without friends or means, Millie is beleaguered by undesirable suitors and threatened by an unknown assailant. Her troubles escalate when the brother of her dead fiancé, Dominic Drouillard, unexpectedly turns up.

In Aspen, Colorado, in 1941, Rachel Brewster is a slalom skier at the National Downhill and Slalom Championships. Little Ray, as she is called, finishes nowhere near the podium, but she manages to get pregnant. Back home, in New England, Little Ray becomes a ski instructor. Her son, Adam, grows up in a family that defies conventions and evades questions concerning the eventful past. Years later, looking for answers, Adam will go to Aspen. In the Hotel Jerome, where he was conceived, Adam will meet some ghosts.

Born into slavery, Mai's horizons are limited to one simple desire: to catch the eye of a handsome mate. She dares not dream for more, for like all humans, she's been taught from birth that her life belongs to the orcs, her destiny to serve.

Nell Young has lived her life in and around maps. Her father, Dr David Young, was one of the most respected cartographers in the world. He's also just been found dead - in his office at the New York Public Library. Nell hadn't spoken to him in years - ever since he fired her after an argument over a seemingly worthless highway roadside map. A map which was mass produced - and every copy of which is being found and destroyed. But why?

Chicago attorney Izzy McNeil is ready to take a break from private investigation and focus on her career in criminal law. But as a favor, she agrees to work with Madeline Saga, a beautiful art gallery owner who fears that artwork she has sold is fake. Who in Madeline's tight circle of artists and gallery owners is guilty of the forgeries? When Madeline's life is threatened, Izzy is suddenly asking a more troublesome question: Who wants the gallery owner dead? As the case spins out of control, there's only one person who makes Izzy feel safe—Detective Damon Vaughn. But getting close to her former nemesis is full of surprises. Astonishing truths about the glittering Chicago art scene will introduce Izzy to the deadliest art of deception.…

Being a gargoyle isn't easy. Tiffany wasn’t even born one, but now she has wings, and in the gargoyle world it means she’ll have to fight ghosts. A scary proposition for someone who was once one of the living, especially when all she wants to do is get home and see her parents again. Enter the Hollow Mountain, a place caught somewhere between life and death, where Tiffany’s inner light - if she can learn to harness it - can bring her the power needed to face the monsters she thought only existed in her dreams.

In the summer of 1986 in a small Chinese village, 10-year-old Junie receives a momentous letter from her parents, who had left for America years ago: Her father promises to return home and collect her by her 12th birthday. But Junie’s growing determination to stay put in the idyllic countryside with her beloved grandparents threatens to derail her family’s shared future.

The American dream continues to resonate with immigrants from around the world. Millions of people hope to come to the United States to build a better life for themselves and their families, often by creating and growing new ventures and companies. While not everyone succeeds, many do. Mei Xu is one of those successes. In Burn, entrepreneur and international business­woman Mei Xu tells her story of ingenuity, determination, and luck.

The popular Beijing Duck House in Rockville, Maryland, has been serving devoted regulars for decades, but behind the staff's professional smiles simmer tensions, heartaches and grudges from decades of bustling restaurant life. Owner Jimmy Han has ambitions for a new high-end fusion place, hoping to eclipse his late father's homely establishment. Jimmy's older brother, Johnny, is more concerned with restoring the dignity of the family name than his faltering relationship with his own teenage daughter, Annie.

Female Trouble features 13 wise, funny, and startlingly perceptive stories about the vagaries and revelations of womanhood. Named by The New Yorker as one of the 20 best writers of her generation, Antonya Nelson explores the broad notion of family from myriad angles in Female Trouble.

Weaving wonderful observation with quick wit and striking insight, Some Fun is a timely and provocative inventory of the state of family in America -- and proof of why Nelson is one of the most important writers at work today.

Twenty-seven well-known writers, their imaginations unleashed by anonymity.

The 19th addition of this annual anthology exhibits a collection of short fiction from award-winning Southern authors and rising stars including Edward P. Jones and Silas House. Each story’s derivation is explained in an illuminating note from the author following the rich and entertaining tales.

Millie knows the raucous mining town of Buckskin Joe is no place for children, but when Dom’s Uncle George shows up needing help, the whole family reluctantly heads to South Park. George has been accused of murdering his mining partner, Wandering Will, and although Millie questions his innocence, she finds there are many suspects who wanted Will dead.

Based on exhaustive research and set in the Chinese cradle of civilization, the Yellow River basin, Forgotten Tales of China is a sweeping saga of survival, sacrifice, indomitable perseverance, bravery, and betrayal. Starting 40,000 years ago with cave dwellers who communicated almost solely through sign language, this epic novel transports listeners through the millennium, culminating in China's Bronze Age, 1,600 BC, during the reign of a mad degenerate Xia king.

Meet Odder, the queen of play. Nobody has her moves. She doesn’t just swim to the bottom, she dive-bombs. She doesn’t just somersault, she triple-doughnuts. She doesn’t just ride the waves, she makes them. Odder spends her days off the coast of central California, practicing her underwater acrobatics and spinning the quirky stories for which she’s known. She’s a fearless daredevil, curious to a fault. But when Odder comes face-to-face with a hungry great white shark, her life takes a dramatic turn, one that will challenge everything she believes about herself.

Presence, the Play offers a penetrating perspective on the vital role personal presence plays in the essence of life. This timely, captivating novel speaks to a growing hunger for a way of life that’s real and tangible, the opposite of an artificial existence lived in a realm of mediated connectivity.

There's more to meditation than just rhythmically chanting "om" in a seated position - inner calm can be achieved through the simplest of actions, such as mindfully drinking a cup of tea. This guide shows you how to harness the power of meditation in your daily life with a variety of meditation techniques that you can learn and carry out in just a few minutes.

Sixteen-year-old Jessa Stone is the most valuable citizen in Eden City. Her psychic abilities could lead to significant scientific discoveries-if only she'd let TechRA study her. But after they kidnapped and experimented on her as a child, cooperating with the scientists is the last thing Jessa would do. But when she discovers the past isn't what she assumed, Jessa must join forces with budding scientist Tanner Callahan to rectify a fatal mistake made ten years ago. She'll do anything to change the past and save her sister-even if it means aligning with the enemy she swore to defeat.