Showing results by narrator "Judith West" in All Categories

From the story of a young bride whose fairy-tale vision of California is shattered when her husband is murdered and she must face the future on her own, to a proud middle-aged divorced woman determined to succeed in San Francisco, Divakaruni's award-winning poetry fuses here with prose for the first time to create 11 devastating portraits of women on the verge of an unforgettable transformation.

Assistant District Attorney Beverly Mendoza appears to have an open and shut case when she prosecutes Rafael Santiago for the murder of a judge and the sexual assault of his wife in Eagles Landing, a town in Northern California. Santiago was recently released from prison and had a grudge against the judge. But her case against the suspect is put in jeopardy when career criminal Manuel Gonzalez, arrested for the murder of a young woman, also confesses to killing the judge.

Born into affluence, Mia Stanley is a winsome socialite with a knack for matchmaking. She's also a writer for Godey's Lady's Book magazine, much to the dismay of her family and their society friends. A proper young lady of her social standing isn't meant to labor in such a way, but Mia has always had a way with words. When her writing draws her into the world of downtrodden seamen's wives on Philadelphia's docks, Mia uncovers an alarming scheme that puts her in harm's way.

This year, a modern-day Scrooge learns the true meaning of Christmas with the help of a suddenly sexy old friend. A down-on-his-luck baseball star finds a beautiful new beginning with a hometown girl. And a prim-and-proper teacher is determined to bring out the holiday spirit in a grumpy tree farmer. Settle in for the season with this collection of very merry short fiction.

This lyrical narrative brings the listener into the mind of an unforgettable character and into a corner of rural Washington State at a time when its residents are trying to secede from the country. It's a fascinating, little-known slice of history woven seamlessly with the everyday eeriness of an isolated family farm.

Hearing an old lover’s song on the radio while she’s taking her daughter to kindergarten carries the narrator back to her complicated affair with the singer, and to a meditation on what is, what was, and what might have been.

Janet works as a telephone operator in 1950s Richmond, Va. When she patches through a call for help from a child reporting an intruder at an isolated farm, she realizes she knows the family. Enlisting the help of the man she desires, she makes an emergency trip to help someone in danger - or is it, really, to help herself?

When Cat arrives in Portugal, she discovers that her friend Tónio has installed his ex-lover, Mateus, in the apartment, where he too is dying - of AIDS. As Cat struggles to untangle a complicated web of present desires and past secrets, she makes a series of shocking discoveries.

Eileen Connor hopes that a demanding bilingual job at an ad agency in Geneva will help her forget the man who broke her heart in New York. Instead, she falls in love with architect Matt Edwards - all too likely to be another disastrous choice.

Almost everyone prays: believers, unbelievers, wannabe believers, and might-have-been believers. It assures us all in our many parts and many moods that everything is going to be okay, despite any evidence to the contrary. When people say, “I don’t know how to pray,” what they often mean is “I don’t believe.” Or perhaps they are struggling with disappointment or anger with God and have taken a break from their prayer life.

Just because you’re not guilty doesn’t mean you’re innocent. Jessie Dancing got away, but she can’t escape her past. She works at a call center, for roadside emergency assistance. One night, she gets a call from Darren Markson, who sounds like he is being murdered. After telling the local police, Jessie starts her own investigation into the possible crime, finding Markson's family, discovering that Markson is still alive.

In the Year Without a Summer, a group of mad geniuses descended on Geneva. In an attempt to save the body and mind of George Byron, they performed a dreadful and forbidden experiment that forever changed history - and tore their own lives apart.Years later, Byron’s daughter Ada has inherited her father’s genius.

The unimpeachable Elenora Villars is the pride of New Orleans. Her magnificent auburn hair is her crowning glory and her benevolence is the talk of the town. Once a nurse to injured Americans in Niagara, Elenora has become famous for her compassionate works. The widow of a Spanish nobleman, Elenora has secured herself a respected place in high society. But she has a secret that could destroy her good name. Colonel Grant Farrell is the only man who knows what Elenora really is and the secrets she is hiding, but he doesn't care.

In the midst of the Great Depression, seventeen-year-old Lanie Freeman hopes to keep her family together, become a writer, and find love. But an unexpected health crisis and a devastating town scandal leave the Freeman family reeling. Will their faith uphold them as they struggle to survive?

It is Autumn of 1936…With most of their Louisiana plantation sold off to survive The Great Depression, 18-year-old Lanie Freeman and her sister Maeva struggle to reunite their family. Fourth book of the Singing River Series.

Lanie Freeman's life changed swiftly and irrevocably with the death of her mother and the imprisonment of her father. She struggles to hold together her family, pursue her dreams, and follow her heart. Then the new preacher arrives and Lanies world is turned upside down! Book Two in the Singing River series.

As the year 1928 begins, 14-year-old Lanie Belle Freeman of Fairhope, Arkansas, has bright hopes for the future. Her father has launched a new business, and her mother is expecting her fifth baby. Lanie has dreams of going to college and being a writer. Then tragedy strikes.