Swift as Desire

Download Swift as Desire PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 1400033268
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Swift as Desire by : Laura Esquivel

Download or read book Swift as Desire written by Laura Esquivel and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2002-08-27 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the millions of fans of Like Water for Chocolate know, Laura Esquivel is a romanticist whose novels explore the power of love and the truths of the human heart. She returns to those themes in Swift as Desire, the story of a loving and passionate man who has the gift of bringing happiness to everyone except his own wife. The hero of this novel is Júbilo Chi, a telegraph operator who is born with the ability to “hear” people’s true feelings and respond to their most intimate, unspoken desires. His life changes forever the day he falls deeply and irrevocably in love with Lucha, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy family. She believes money is necessary to insure happiness, while for Júbilo, who is poor, love and desire are more important than possessions. But their passion for each other enables them to build a happy life together -- until their idyll is shattered by a terrible event that drives them bitterly apart. Only years later, as Júbilo lies dying, is his daughter able to unravel the mystery behind her parents’ long estrangement and bring about a surprising reconciliation.

Laura Esquivel's Mexican Fictions

Download Laura Esquivel's Mexican Fictions PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Apollo Books
ISBN 13 : 9781845195564
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (955 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Laura Esquivel's Mexican Fictions by : Elizabeth Moore Willingham

Download or read book Laura Esquivel's Mexican Fictions written by Elizabeth Moore Willingham and published by Apollo Books. This book was released on 2012-05-18 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book - now available in paperback - is the first in-depth review and assessment of Laura Esquivel criticism. Outstanding essayists - from diverse critical perspectives in Latin American literature and film - explore Esquivel's critical reputation, contextualize her work in literary movements, and consider her four novels, as well as the film based on Like Water for Chocolate. The book begins with An Introduction to Esquivel Criticism, reviewing 20 years of global praise and condemnation. Elena Poniatowska, in an essay provided in the original Spanish and in translation, reflects on her first reading of Like Water for Chocolate. From unique critical perspectives, Jeffrey Oxford, Patrick Duffey, and Debra Andrist probe the novel as film and fiction. The Rev. Dr. Stephen Butler Murray explores Esquivel's spiritual focus, while cultural geographer Maria Elena Christie uses words and images to compare Mexican kitchen-space and Esquivel's first novel. Elizabeth Coonrod Martinez and Lydia H. Rodriguez affirm divergent readings of The Law of Love, and Elizabeth M. Willingham discusses the contested national identity in Swift as Desire. Jeanne L. Gillespie and Ryan F. Long approach Malinche: A Novel through historical documents and popular and religious culture. In the closing essay, Alberto Julian Perez contextualizes Esquivel's fiction within Feminist and Hispanic literary movements. This book has won the Harvey L. Johnson Book Award for 2011, conferred by the South Central Organization of Latin American Studies at its 44th annual Congress in Miami, Florida (March 9, 2012).

Here We Are

Download Here We Are PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0525658068
Total Pages : 124 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (256 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Here We Are by : Graham Swift

Download or read book Here We Are written by Graham Swift and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This novel of love in the world of 1950s vaudeville is a masterwork of literary magic from the Booker Prize-winning author of Last Orders and Mothering Sunday It is 1959 in Brighton, England, and the theater at the end of the famous pier is having its best summer season in years. Ronnie, a brilliant young magician, and Evie, his dazzling assistant, are top of the bill, drawing a full house every night. And Jack is everyone’s favorite master of ceremonies, holding the whole show together. But as the summer progresses, the drama among the three begins to overshadow their success onstage, setting in motion events that will reshape their lives. Vividly realized, tenderly comic, and quietly shattering, Here We Are is a masterly work of literary magic.

On Swift Horses

Download On Swift Horses PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0525538135
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis On Swift Horses by : Shannon Pufahl

Download or read book On Swift Horses written by Shannon Pufahl and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Lambda Literary Award Finalist, 2020. A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. Named a Most Anticipated Book of Fall by The New York Times, Real Simple, Electric Literature, and more. “Cinematic . . . The spaces she creates for her characters . . . have the aura of realms.” —The New York Times Book Review A lonely newlywed and her wayward brother-in-law follow divergent and dangerous paths through the postwar American West. Muriel is newly married and restless, transplanted from her rural Kansas hometown to life in a dusty bungalow in San Diego. The air is rich with the tang of salt and citrus, but the limits of her new life seem to be closing in: She misses her freethinking mother, dead before Muriel's nineteenth birthday, and her sly, itinerant brother-in-law, Julius, who made the world feel bigger than she had imagined. And so she begins slipping off to the Del Mar racetrack to bet and eavesdrop, learning the language of horses and risk. Meanwhile, Julius is testing his fate in Las Vegas, working at a local casino where tourists watch atomic tests from the roof, and falling in love with Henry, a young card cheat. When Henry is eventually discovered and run out of town, Julius takes off to search for him in the plazas and dives of Tijuana, trading one city of dangerous illusions and indiscretions for another. On Swift Horses is a debut of astonishing power: a story of love and luck, of two people trying to find their place in a country that is coming apart even as it promises them everything.

Swift as Desire

Download Swift as Desire PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 038572151X
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (857 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Swift as Desire by : Laura Esquivel

Download or read book Swift as Desire written by Laura Esquivel and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2002-08-27 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the millions of fans of Like Water for Chocolate know, Laura Esquivel is a romanticist whose novels explore the power of love and the truths of the human heart. She returns to those themes in Swift as Desire, the story of a loving and passionate man who has the gift of bringing happiness to everyone except his own wife. The hero of this novel is Júbilo Chi, a telegraph operator who is born with the ability to “hear” people’s true feelings and respond to their most intimate, unspoken desires. His life changes forever the day he falls deeply and irrevocably in love with Lucha, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy family. She believes money is necessary to insure happiness, while for Júbilo, who is poor, love and desire are more important than possessions. But their passion for each other enables them to build a happy life together -- until their idyll is shattered by a terrible event that drives them bitterly apart. Only years later, as Júbilo lies dying, is his daughter able to unravel the mystery behind her parents’ long estrangement and bring about a surprising reconciliation.

A Ladder to the Sky

Download A Ladder to the Sky PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Hogarth
ISBN 13 : 1984823035
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (848 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Ladder to the Sky by : John Boyne

Download or read book A Ladder to the Sky written by John Boyne and published by Hogarth. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A satire of writerly ambition wrapped in a psychological thriller . . . An homage to Patricia Highsmith, Oscar Wilde and Edgar Allan Poe, but its execution is entirely Boyne’s own.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent—but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful – but desperately lonely – older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel. Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall. . . . Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso. Praise for A Ladder to the Sky “Boyne's mastery of perspective, last seen in The Heart's Invisible Furies, works beautifully here. . . . Boyne understands that it's far more interesting and satisfying for a reader to see that narcissist in action than to be told a catchall phrase. Each step Maurice Swift takes skyward reveals a new layer of calumny he's willing to engage in, and the desperation behind it . . . so dark it seems almost impossible to enjoy reading A Ladder to the Sky as much as you definitely will enjoy reading it.”—NPR “Delicious . . . spins out over several decades with thrilling unpredictability, following Maurice as he masters the art of co-opting the stories of others in increasingly dubious ways. And while the book reads as a thriller with a body count that would make Highsmith proud, it is also an exploration of morality and art: Where is the line between inspiration and thievery? To whom does a story belong?”—Vanity Fair

Swift Justice

Download Swift Justice PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Minotaur Books
ISBN 13 : 1429949082
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Swift Justice by : Laura DiSilverio

Download or read book Swift Justice written by Laura DiSilverio and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2010-10-12 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Swift Justice is a Lefty Award finalist for best humorous mystery. Charlotte "Charlie" Swift prefers working alone. That's why after eight years as an Air Force investigator she became a PI rather than a cop. She lives alone, she works alone, and aside for the occasional flirtation with sexy cop Connor Montgomery or her hunky neighbor Father Dan, she likes it that way. Then her silent partner flees the country, leaving his wife, Gigi, with nothing but the house, the Hummer, and a half interest in Swift Investigations. Charlie ends up with a heap of debt and Gigi, who has decided to be a not-so-silent partner. This change comes about while Charlie is trying to find the mother of a baby abandoned on a client's doorstep. While following leads, she sends Gigi out on crazy assignments, hoping that the pampered socialite will be driven to quit. However, when the baby's mother turns up dead, there's a murderer on the loose, and Charlie will need all the help she can get.

Swift Edge

Download Swift Edge PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Minotaur Books
ISBN 13 : 1429995599
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Swift Edge by : Laura DiSilverio

Download or read book Swift Edge written by Laura DiSilverio and published by Minotaur Books. This book was released on 2011-11-22 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cagney and Lacey meets Stephanie Plum in Swift Edge, this second in the hilarious private eye novel series from author Laura DISilverio When world-class figure skater Dmitri Fane goes missing, his partner knows just whom to hire. It's up to Swift Investigations to find the missing Fane, and fast---the Olympics are just weeks away. It should be no trouble for the investigative team of Charlie Swift and Gigi Goldman: Their chief obstacle is Gigi's teenage daughter, Kendall, and her mad crush on Fane. That is, until the skating team's coach is brutally attacked and a colleague of Dmitri is killed, and things start to get complicated. Gigi's corralling a lovesick Kendall and dying to test out the hilarious techniques from her surveillance class. Charlie's dodging bullets and fending off Detective Connor Montgomery's advances. Their client is suddenly MIA. Can Charlie and Gigi solve two missing-persons cases and a murder at once, or will the culprit get off skate-free? Fast-paced adventure, high-stakes intrigue, and the madcap capers of these unlikely partners-in-crime solving make Swift Edge a delightful and welcome addition to the series.

Swift Horse

Download Swift Horse PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Zebra Books
ISBN 13 : 9781420136685
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (366 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Swift Horse by : C. Edwards

Download or read book Swift Horse written by C. Edwards and published by Zebra Books. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "After witnessing the brutal murder of her parents at the hands of a savage, one-eyed warrior, Marsha Eveland swore she'd never forgive his kind. But then her brother announces his plans to marry Soft Wind, the undeniably beautiful sister of the Creek chief Swift Horse. Even if Marsha can forgive what feels like her brother's betrayal, the past isn't so easily left behind. It may be fear that forces Marsha to seek Swift Horse's protection, but it's an even stronger, untamed feeling that keeps her near him. Wilder still is her growing desire to ride alongside his passionate spirit--into the unknown country of her fearless heart . . ."--Publisher description.

Waterland

Download Waterland PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 9780330518215
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (182 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Waterland by : Graham Swift

Download or read book Waterland written by Graham Swift and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2010 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Perfectly controlled, superbly written. Waterland is original, compelling and narration of the highest order' Guardian In the years since its first publication, in 1983, Waterland has established itself as one of the classics of twentieth-century British literature: a visionary tale of England's Fen country; a sinuous meditation on the workings of history; and a family story startling in its detail and universal in its reach. This edition includes an introduction, by the author, written to celebrate the book's 25th anniversary. 'Graham Swift has mapped his Waterland like a new Wessex. He appropriates the Fens as Moby Dick did whaling or Wuthering Heights the moors. This is a beautiful, serious and intelligent novel, admirably ambitious and original' Observer 'A 300-page tour de force . . . A burst of exuberant fictive energy' Evening Standard 'Waterland is a formidably intelligent book, animated by an impressive, angry pity at what human creatures are capable of doing to one another in the name of love and need. The most powerful novel I have read for some time' New York Review of Books

Jonathan Swift and the Vested Word

Download Jonathan Swift and the Vested Word PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 9780807817803
Total Pages : 278 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (178 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jonathan Swift and the Vested Word by : Deborah Baker Wyrick

Download or read book Jonathan Swift and the Vested Word written by Deborah Baker Wyrick and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 1988 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Jonathan Swift and the Vested Word, Deborah Wyrick argues that modern Continental and American literary theory is "tantalizingly applicable to Swiftian texts." Its applicability, she writes, "stems from Swift's interest in and exploration of what are now though of as phenomenological, structuralist, poststructuralist, and new historicist concerns: how a life in language comes into being, how semiotic systems determine meaning, how texts open up their own systems to other texts and to multiple interpretations." Wyrick investigates Swift's confrontations with three theories of language current in his day, theories that locate meaning in the thing named, in the idea behind the word, or in the response of the audience. She concludes that Swift fashioned a fourth theory of meaning, one that locates meaning in and among words themselves. Because of his fear of the anarchic potential of language, Swift attempted to invest his words with extratextual authority; yet a powerful counterforce was his desire to exploit the possibilities of language divested of stable significance. These divestitures, particularly the word-play and language games, ultimately served serious personal and social purposes. A crucial personal purpose was Swift's ability to create a textual self, which he did, Wyrick maintains, by constructing defensive transvestitures centered on clothes and money. These parallel sign systems produced Swift's greatest achievement in using the resources of language and history to effect political action. By using the entire Swift canon -- poems and prose narratives, letters and essays, sermons and satires -- Wyrick presents Swift's struggle with the inadequacies of language and its inability to answer the tremendous demands he made upon it. Originally published 1988. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

The Gilded Lily

Download The Gilded Lily PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Pan
ISBN 13 : 174329929X
Total Pages : 513 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (432 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Gilded Lily by : Deborah Swift

Download or read book The Gilded Lily written by Deborah Swift and published by Pan. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winter, 1661. In her short life Sadie Appleby has never left rural Westmorland. But one night she is rudely awoken by her older and bolder sister, Ella. She has robbed her employer and is on the run. Together the girls flee their home and head for London. But London may not be the promised land she expects. Work is hard to find, until Ella takes up with a dashing and dubious gentleman with ties to the London underworld. Meanwhile, her old employer's twin brother is in hot pursuit of the sisters. Set in a London of atmospheric coffee houses, gilded mansions, and shady pawnshops hidden from rich men's view, Deborah Swift's The Gilded Lily is a dazzling novel of historical adventure.

A Swift Pure Cry

Download A Swift Pure Cry PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : David Fickling Books
ISBN 13 : 0375891552
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (758 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Swift Pure Cry by : Siobhan Dowd

Download or read book A Swift Pure Cry written by Siobhan Dowd and published by David Fickling Books. This book was released on 2008-09-09 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ireland 1984.After Shell's mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. Her only release from the harshness of everyday life comes from her budding spiritual friendship with a naive young priest, and most importantly, her developing relationship with childhood friend, Declan, who is charming, eloquent, and persuasive. But when Declan suddenly leaves Ireland to seek his fortune in America, Shell finds herself pregnant and the center of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again.This is a story of love and loss, religious belief and spirituality—it will move the hearts of any who read it.

Escaping Dreamland

Download Escaping Dreamland PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Blackstone Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1982629428
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (826 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Escaping Dreamland by : Charlie Lovett

Download or read book Escaping Dreamland written by Charlie Lovett and published by Blackstone Publishing. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert Parrish’s childhood obsession with series books like the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift inspired him to become an author. Just as his debut novel becomes a bestseller, his relationship with his girlfriend, Rebecca, begins to fall apart. Robert realizes he must confront his secret demons by fulfilling a youthful promise to solve a mystery surrounding his favorite series—the Tremendous Trio. Guided by twelve tattered books and an unidentified but tantalizing fragment of a story, Robert journeys into the history of the books that changed his life, hoping they can help him once again. His odyssey takes him to 1906 Manhattan, a time of steamboats, boot blacks, and Fifth Avenue mansions, but every discovery he makes only leads to more questions. Robert’s quest intertwines with the stories of three young people trying to define their places in the world at the dawn of a new and exciting century. Magda, Gene, and Tom not only write the children’s books that Robert will one day love, together they explore the vibrant city on their doorstep, from the Polo Grounds to Coney Island’s Dreamland, drawing the reader into the Gilded Age as their own friendships deepen. The connections between the authors, their creations, and Robert’s redemptive journey make for a beautifully crafted novel that is an ode to the children’s series books of our past, to New York City, and above all, to the power of love and friendship.

Cattywampus

Download Cattywampus PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Scholastic Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1338561618
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (385 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cattywampus by : Ash Van Otterloo

Download or read book Cattywampus written by Ash Van Otterloo and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The magical story of a hex that goes haywire, and the power of friendship to set things right! In the town of Howler's Hollow, conjuring magic is strictly off-limits. Only nothing makes Delpha McGill's skin crawl more than rules. So when she finds her family's secret book of hexes, she's itching to use it to banish her mama's money troubles. She just has to keep it quieter than a church mouse -- not exactly Delpha's specialty.Trouble is, Katybird Hearn is hankering to get her hands on the spell book, too. The daughter of a rival witching family, Katy has reasons of her own for wanting to learn forbidden magic, and she's not going to let an age-old feud or Delpha's contrary ways stop her. But their quarrel accidentally unleashes a hex so heinous it resurrects a graveyard full of angry Hearn and McGill ancestors bent on total destruction. If Delpha and Katy want to reverse the spell in time to save everyone in the Hollow from rampaging zombies, they'll need to mend fences and work together.Fans of A Snicker of Magic and The Witch Boy will love this funny, folksy, fresh debut from Ash Van Otterloo that proves sometimes it takes two witches to make the strongest magic happen.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Download Daughter of Smoke & Bone PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN 13 : 0316192147
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (161 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Daughter of Smoke & Bone by : Laini Taylor

Download or read book Daughter of Smoke & Bone written by Laini Taylor and published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2011-09-27 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book in the New York Times bestselling epic fantasy trilogy by award-winning author Laini Taylor Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

Taylor Swift The Brightest Star

Download Taylor Swift The Brightest Star PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781912587551
Total Pages : 350 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (875 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Taylor Swift The Brightest Star by : MICHAEL FRANCIS. TAYLOR

Download or read book Taylor Swift The Brightest Star written by MICHAEL FRANCIS. TAYLOR and published by . This book was released on 2021-08-16 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Encyclopaedic in its scope, this is the ultimate tribute to the life and music of Taylor Swift. No need for glossy images here, the narrative says it all - a chronological account of her mercurial rise to fame; the stories that inspire the songs; an in-depth look at those much-publicised battles with the media, music industry and fellow artists, and all recounted with well-chosen words from the artist herself and dozens of others who have played a part in her incredible story. Put together, we have the definitive record. If not already a fan, reading this may very well change your opinion. "I really do try to be a nice person...but if you break my heart, hurt my feelings, or are really mean to me, I'm going to write a song about you" This is how Taylor Swift once explained the meaning behind one of her earliest songs. Never one to mince her words when it comes to sharing her thoughts, she has achieved legendary status in the music world with a career built largely on her personal feelings, ever since the day one particular teenage boy made her cry. Now barely into her third decade, her songs have taken her fans on an emotional journey that encompasses both the elation of young love and the heartbreak of fallen relationships. As always, fame courts controversy, and Taylor has had her fair share - long-standing feuds with fellow artists; harrowing claims of sexual harassment; deeply personal accusations over her own authenticity, and those headline-making, all-too public breakups with a catalog of celebrity lovers - all subjects covered in detail within these pages. This book strips away the sometimes-mythical veneer of superstardom and lays bare the real Taylor as the songwriting genius she was born to be; a young woman who, after all, is as human as the rest of us, doing amazing things as well as making incredible gaffes. But with dogged determination and staying true to herself, she has been able to drive her own destiny. Love her or hate her (maybe, better to love her), she has inspired a generation of young fans across the globe, not only with her music, but with heartfelt words of wisdom. Taylor's girl-next-door public image remains intact, at least for now, and she stands firm by one of her own mantras: "No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind". For a simple good lesson in life, that ain't bad.