Those I Have Known

Download Those I Have Known PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Burns & Oates
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Those I Have Known by : Anwar Sadat

Download or read book Those I Have Known written by Anwar Sadat and published by Burns & Oates. This book was released on 1984 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written during the final year of his life, these profiles and intimate reflections offer sometimes startling insight into some of the prominent leaders and personalities of our time.

Famous People I Have Known

Download Famous People I Have Known PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 9780813190693
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Famous People I Have Known by : Ed McClanahan

Download or read book Famous People I Have Known written by Ed McClanahan and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2003-11-01 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ed McClanahan's hilarious classic introduces us to writers and revolutionaries, hippies and honkies, gurus and go-go girls, barkeeps and barflies, as well as Carlos Toadvine, aka Little Enis, the All-American Left-Handed Upside-down Guitar Player, among the characters he has encountered in thirty peripatetic years of wandering the fringes of the academic and literary worlds from his native Kentucky to the West Coast (where his compatriots included Ken Kesey and Tom Wolfe) and back again.

I Who Have Never Known Men

Download I Who Have Never Known Men PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Seven Stories Press
ISBN 13 : 9781888363432
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (634 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis I Who Have Never Known Men by : Jacqueline Harpman

Download or read book I Who Have Never Known Men written by Jacqueline Harpman and published by Seven Stories Press. This book was released on 1997-04-08 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A work of fantasy, I Who Have Never Known Men is the haunting and unforgettable account of a near future on a barren earth where women are kept in underground cages guarded by uniformed groups of men. It is narrated by the youngest of the women, the only one with no memory of what the world was like before the cages, who must teach herself, without books or sexual contact, the essential human emotions of longing, loving, learning, companionship, and dying. Part thriller, part mystery, I Who Have Never Known Men shows us the power of one person without memories to reinvent herself piece by piece, emotion by emotion, in the process teaching us much about what it means to be human.

Dead People I Have Known

Download Dead People I Have Known PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Victoria University Press
ISBN 13 : 1776562534
Total Pages : 476 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (765 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Dead People I Have Known by : Shayne Carter

Download or read book Dead People I Have Known written by Shayne Carter and published by Victoria University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-01 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When we crashed over the line two and a half minutes later, there was a short, disbelieving silence and I could feel my knee trembling behind its sarcastic &‘Disco' patch. A song I'd written had just been played to the finish, and what's more, it hadn't sounded weak, or delusional—it had, in fact, kicked.I backed down from the mic. Here was a new world of sound. Its sky was borderless, and its horizon curled off a previously flat earth. I'd been given a virtual super power and a flame to shoot from my fingers.In Dead People I Have Known, the legendary New Zealand musician Shayne Carter tells the story of a life in music, taking us deep behind the scenes and songs of his riotous teenage bands Bored Games and the Doublehappys and his best-known bands Straitjacket Fits and Dimmer. He traces an intimate history of the Dunedin Sound—that distinctive jangly indie sound that emerged in the seventies, heavily influenced by punk—and the record label Flying Nun.As well as the pop culture of the seventies, eighties and nineties, Carter writes candidly of the bleak and violent aspects of Dunedin, the city where he grew up and would later return. His childhood was shaped by violence and addiction, as well as love and music. Alongside the fellow musicians, friends and family who appear so vividly here, this book is peopled by neighbours, kids at school, people on the street, and the other passing characters who have stayed on in his memory.We also learn of the other major force in Carter's life: sport. Harness racing, wrestling, basketball and football have provided him with a similar solace, even escape, as music.Dead People I Have Known is a frank, moving, often incredibly funny autobiography; the story of making a life as a musician over the last forty years in New Zealand, and a work of art in its own right.

You Should Have Known -- Free Preview (The First 4 Chapters)

Download You Should Have Known -- Free Preview (The First 4 Chapters) PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
ISBN 13 : 145558536X
Total Pages : 56 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (555 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis You Should Have Known -- Free Preview (The First 4 Chapters) by : Jean Hanff Korelitz

Download or read book You Should Have Known -- Free Preview (The First 4 Chapters) written by Jean Hanff Korelitz and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grace Reinhart Sachs is living the only life she ever wanted for herself. Devoted to her husband, a pediatric oncologist at a major cancer hospital, their young son Henry, and the patients she sees in her therapy practice, her days are full of familiar things: she lives in the very New York apartment in which she was raised, and sends Henry to the school she herself once attended. Dismayed by the ways in which women delude themselves, Grace is also the author of a book You Should Have Known, in which she cautions women to really hear what men are trying to tell them. But weeks before the book is published a chasm opens in her own life: a violent death, a missing husband, and, in the place of a man Grace thought she knew, only an ongoing chain of terrible revelations. Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster, and horrified by the ways in which she has failed to heed her own advice, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and herself.

Riots I Have Known

Download Riots I Have Known PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1501197312
Total Pages : 128 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (11 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Riots I Have Known by : Ryan Chapman

Download or read book Riots I Have Known written by Ryan Chapman and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-11-17 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Longlisted for the 2019 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, Ryan Chapman’s “gritty, bracing debut” (Esquire) set during a prison riot is “dark, daring, and laugh-out-loud hilarious…one of the smartest—and best—novels of the year” (NPR). A largescale riot rages through Westbrook prison in upstate New York, incited by a poem in the house literary journal. Our unnamed narrator, barricaded inside the computer lab, swears he’s blameless—even though, as editor-in-chief, he published the piece in question. As he awaits violent interruption by his many, many enemies, he liveblogs one final Editor’s Letter. Riots I Have Known is his memoir, confession, and act of literary revenge. His tale spans a childhood in Sri Lanka, navigating the postwar black markets and hotel chains; employment as a Park Avenue doorman, serving the widows of the one percent; life in prison, with the silver lining of his beloved McNairy; and his stewardship of The Holding Pen, a “masterpiece of post-penal literature” favored by Brooklynites everywhere. All will be revealed, and everyone will see he’s really a good guy, doing it for the right reasons. “Fitfully funny and murderously wry,” Riots I Have Known is “a frenzied yet wistful monologue from a lover of literature under siege” (Kirkus Reviews).

It's Not Supposed to Be This Way

Download It's Not Supposed to Be This Way PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Thomas Nelson
ISBN 13 : 0718039866
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (18 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis It's Not Supposed to Be This Way by : Lysa TerKeurst

Download or read book It's Not Supposed to Be This Way written by Lysa TerKeurst and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER What do you do when God’s timing seems questionable, his lack of intervention hurtful, and his promises doubtful? Lysa TerKeurst unveils her heart amid shattering circumstances, inviting you to live assured when life doesn't turn out like you expected. Life often looks so very different than we hoped or expected. Some events may simply catch us off guard for a season, but others shatter us completely. We feel disappointed and disillusioned at best and overwhelmed and hopeless at worst. We quietly start to wonder about the reality of God’s goodness and why he allows us to suffer and experience grief and loss. Lysa TerKeurst understands this deeply. But after many tears, godly counseling, and prayerful seeking, she's also discovered that our disappointments can be the divine appointments our souls need to radically encounter God. In It's Not Supposed to Be This Way, Lysa invites us into her own journey of faith and, with grit, vulnerability, and honest humor, helps us to: Stop being pulled into the anxiety of disappointment by discovering how to better process unmet expectations and other painful situations. Train ourselves to recognize the three strategies of the enemy, so we can stand strong and persevere through unsettling relationships and uncertain outcomes. Discover the secret of being steadfast and not panicking when God actually does give us more than we can handle. Shift our suspicion that God is cruel or unfair to the biblical assurance that God is protecting and preparing us. Know how to encourage a friend and help her navigate hard realities with real help from God's truth, the Bible. Look for additional biblically based resources and devotionals from Lysa: Good Boundaries and Goodbyes Forgiving What You Can't Forget Uninvited You're Going to Make It Embraced Seeing Beautiful Again

Graph Theory As I Have Known It

Download Graph Theory As I Have Known It PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Clarendon Press
ISBN 13 : 0191637785
Total Pages : 164 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Graph Theory As I Have Known It by : W. T. Tutte

Download or read book Graph Theory As I Have Known It written by W. T. Tutte and published by Clarendon Press. This book was released on 2012-05-24 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a unique and unusual introduction to graph theory by one of the founding fathers, and will be of interest to all researchers in the subject. It is not intended as a comprehensive treatise, but rather as an account of those parts of the theory that have been of special interest to the author. Professor Tutte details his experience in the area, and provides a fascinating insight into how he was led to his theorems and the proofs he used. As well as being of historical interest it provides a useful starting point for research, with references to further suggested books as well as the original papers. The book starts by detailing the first problems worked on by Professor Tutte and his colleagues during his days as an undergraduate member of the Trinity Mathematical Society in Cambridge. It covers subjects such as comnbinatorial problems in chess, the algebraicization of graph theory, reconstruction of graphs, and the chromatic eigenvalues. In each case fascinating historical and biographical information about the author's research is provided.

Five Germanys I Have Known

Download Five Germanys I Have Known PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN 13 : 1466819227
Total Pages : 572 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (668 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Five Germanys I Have Known by : Fritz Stern

Download or read book Five Germanys I Have Known written by Fritz Stern and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2007-07-24 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "German question" haunts the modern world: How could so civilized a nation be responsible for the greatest horror in Western history? In this unusual fusion of personal memoir and history, the celebrated scholar Fritz Stern refracts the question through the prism of his own life. Born in the Weimar Republic, exposed to five years of National Socialism before being forced into exile in 1938 in America, he became a world-renowned historian whose work opened new perspectives on the German past. Stern brings to life the five Germanys he has experienced: Weimar, the Third Reich, postwar West and East Germanys, and the unified country after 1990. Through his engagement with the nation from which he and his family fled, he shows that the tumultuous history of Germany, alternately the strength and the scourge of Europe, offers political lessons for citizens everywhere—especially those facing or escaping from tyranny. In this wise, tough-minded, and subtle book, Stern, himself a passionately engaged citizen, looks beyond Germany to issues of political responsibility that concern everyone. Five Germanys I Have Known vindicates his belief that, at its best, history is our most dramatic introduction to a moral civic life.

Uncommon People I Have Known

Download Uncommon People I Have Known PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : iUniverse
ISBN 13 : 1491703660
Total Pages : 493 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (917 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Uncommon People I Have Known by : Frank P. Sherwood

Download or read book Uncommon People I Have Known written by Frank P. Sherwood and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2013-09-04 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The title and subtitle say a great deal about the character of this book. These are stories about people who inevitably stand out in a crowd for their personal attributes, their ethical standards, the ways in which they have coped with great problems, and their remarkable achievements. Significantly, fourteen of the sixteen stories in this book are about people who have in some way contributed to better government. Several have worked directly in government, others have been teachers, and still others have found ways to make contributions. Not all the stories are about people in the U.S. The two stories from Brazil involve people who stayed at home and did their good work there; in the other two instances, already blossoming careers at home were ended by extreme governmental changes. In all cases, however, these are people who must be admired for their extreme dedication to the highest ideals of service. In effect, this book can be considered a primer on government that works. The two whose stories did not directly concern government contributed mightily to a better society. One was a highly productive author, who, in later years concentrated on children's books and wrote more than 50 of them. The other pioneered a wholly different journalistic undertaking, the city-regional magazine. Today these publications are found throughout the country and are distinguished by their design quality and their commitment to the communities they serve.

Mobsters I Have Known and Loved

Download Mobsters I Have Known and Loved PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781600473760
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (737 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mobsters I Have Known and Loved by : Frances McKee

Download or read book Mobsters I Have Known and Loved written by Frances McKee and published by . This book was released on 2009-11 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Frances McKee, a former Marine, was a first-year history teacher, young wife, and mother of two little ones living in San Francisco in 1961, she never imagined that in a few months she would become the darling of the New Jersey Mob. It all came about when she couldn't accompany her Marine husband to Okinawa and had to return to Long Branch, New Jersey to live with her mother. As fate would have it, a waitress at the Landmark Hotel needed someone to take part of her shift. Frances took the job there and later at the Surf Lounge in June 1962, intending to work for fourteen months, but ended up staying for fourteen years. The Surf Lounge at the time was run by James "Skippy" Faye and Pat Simonetti, son-in-law of Vito "Don Vito" Genovese, the reputed "vice lord of America." Although Simonetti was not part of the Mob, it was only natural that The Surf would earn the reputation of being a Mob hangout. Mobsters I Have Known & Loved is not another chronicle of crimes committed by the Mob, but a lighthearted memoir of the Mob's fun, pranks, humor, and good deeds. Although Frances endeared herself to several mobsters, one in particular stole her heart - Anthony "Little Pussy" Russo, who inspired her to write this book. Mobsters I Have Known & Loved is Frances McKee's first book.

Strange People I Have Known

Download Strange People I Have Known PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Biteback Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1785908081
Total Pages : 246 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (859 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Strange People I Have Known by : Andy McSmith

Download or read book Strange People I Have Known written by Andy McSmith and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2023-05-11 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "As well as being one of the leading political journalists of his generation, Andy McSmith's varied life has brought him into contact with a huge variety of people, high and low, whom he describes with an acute eye for character. His book Strange People I Have Known is a fast-paced and entertaining read that brings deep insight into British political life." – Bill Browder "A fascinating memoir which gives a revelatory insider's account of the biggest political names from the past few decades, interwoven with evocative reflections on the many colourful characters who have peppered McSmith's own life." – Pippa Crerar "An addictive memoir that fizzes with anecdotes. If you like top-level political gossip and insights written with panache, look no further." – Gary Gibbon *** Westminster and Whitehall are secret worlds, hidden to most. But working as a lobby journalist, former Labour Party staffer Andy McSmith has had exclusive access to our top politicians for decades. Here, he shares his personal encounters with the great and the good of the British political landscape, revealing what they are really like behind the scenes. With witty and perceptive flair, he describes encounters such as flying to Tokyo with Margaret Thatcher, the last Prime Minister who would walk fearlessly into a room full of journalists, unprotected by special advisers; dining with Sir Edward Heath, a man who knew how to hold a grudge, in his home in Salisbury; observing Gordon Brown and Tony Blair as new MPs, sharing a cramped office in Parliament and collaborating like brothers; and working with Boris Johnson back when he had an ambition to be something more than just a journalist. Filled with vivid portraits of those at the heart of British politics over the past forty years, Strange People I Have Known is a memoir of a life well lived and an insider's account of the inner workings of government.

Forged

Download Forged PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062078631
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (62 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Forged by : Bart D. Ehrman

Download or read book Forged written by Bart D. Ehrman and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-03-22 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bart D. Ehrman, the New York Times bestselling author of Jesus, Interrupted and God’s Problem reveals which books in the Bible’s New Testament were not passed down by Jesus’s disciples, but were instead forged by other hands—and why this centuries-hidden scandal is far more significant than many scholars are willing to admit. A controversial work of historical reporting in the tradition of Elaine Pagels, Marcus Borg, and John Dominic Crossan, Ehrman’s Forged delivers a stunning explication of one of the most substantial—yet least discussed—problems confronting the world of biblical scholarship.

Lamb Special Gift Ed

Download Lamb Special Gift Ed PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : William Morrow
ISBN 13 : 9780061438592
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (385 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Lamb Special Gift Ed by : Christopher Moore

Download or read book Lamb Special Gift Ed written by Christopher Moore and published by William Morrow. This book was released on 2007-10-23 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have read—and reread—Christopher Moore's irreverent, iconoclastic, and divinely funny tale of the early life of Jesus Christ as witnessed by his boyhood pal Levi bar Alphaeus (a.k.a. Biff). Now, in this special (check out the cool red ribbon marker, gilt-edged pages, and gold lettering) gift edition of Christopher Moore's bestselling Lamb, you, too, can find out what really happened between the manger and the Sermon on the Mount. And, in a new afterword written expressly for this edition, Christopher Moore addresses some of the most frequently asked questions he's received from readers since Lamb's initial publication, about the book and himself. Fresh, funny, poignant, and wise, this special gift edition of Lamb is cause for rejoicing among readers everywhere.

About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known

Download About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Forefront Books
ISBN 13 : 194867744X
Total Pages : 121 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (486 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known by : Peggy Rowe

Download or read book About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known written by Peggy Rowe and published by Forefront Books. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peggy Rowe is at it again—this time giving a hilarious inside look at growing up Rowe, both before and after Mike’s rise to fame. Since the day they said, “I do,” Peggy’s previous “doting” lifestyle met with her husband John’s minimalist ways and became the backdrop for years of adventure and a quirky sense of humor because of their differences. From thoughts of wearing headlamps in the house to save energy, to squeezing out the last drop of toothpaste with a workbench vise, Peggy learned to pick her battles and celebrate the hilarity in each situation. Once their boys were born, woodstove mishaps and garbage dumping tales were the seed for Mike’s obsession with doing dirty jobs and the comical presence he is known for today. As Mike rose to fame, Peggy was his biggest fan—who gave motherly advice and constructive criticism, of course. She baked cookies for Mike to take to Joan Rivers for a Christmas party hostess gift, and even wrote fan letters under faux names and mailed them from different cities to Mike’s producer. By the time Mike hits it big, Peggy and John retire to face more adventures, with a lightning strike in their condo, an elderly friend who ate marijuana leaves, and entering into celebrity status by making Viva paper towel and Lee jeans commercials, plus so much more. Peggy’s stories relive the details that intrigue and entertain old and new fans alike. So if you want a bigger, even funnier take on the Rowe family, About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known delivers.

Wild People I Have Known

Download Wild People I Have Known PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Robert Lee
ISBN 13 : 1461044596
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (61 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Wild People I Have Known by : Robert F Lee

Download or read book Wild People I Have Known written by Robert F Lee and published by Robert Lee. This book was released on 2011-03-28 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Violence is a common thread through the fabric of many people living in the lower socio-econimic layers of our society. Murder, assaults and other violent crimes are everyday occurrences. Yet, the people who commit these crimes are everday people, often with colourful, appealing personalities. This book looks at over two dozen of those persons and at the other side of their lives: the human part. It is a recollection of the person interactions of the author with each of these characters. All of the stories are true, and factually accurate. In some cases, Lee has changed the names. In other cases, he have not. People such as Jon Waluk and Larry Fisher, who were convicted of killing two infants and their mother, allegedly over a drug deal, are reviled by many as the "lowest of the low." Yet they were individuals with many redemming qualities. The case of Dennis Edwin Proctor, convicted of killing one girl and raping two, as well as his subsequent incarceration in a mental facility, is examined. The stories of several police officers who "crossed the line" of acceptable behaviour are provided. To counterbalance those tales, the author provides an intriguing look at the actions of several exceptional law enforcement people. The author brings an intimate understanding of the personal lives of many of his friends and associates -- an understanding that only someone having lived within that environment can fathom.

I Know This Much Is True

Download I Know This Much Is True PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780060391621
Total Pages : 884 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (916 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis I Know This Much Is True by : Wally Lamb

Download or read book I Know This Much Is True written by Wally Lamb and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-06-03 with total page 884 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With his stunning debut novel, She's Come Undone, Wally Lamb won the adulation of critics and readers with his mesmerizing tale of one woman's painful yet triumphant journey of self-discovery. Now, this brilliantly talented writer returns with I Know This Much Is True, a heartbreaking and poignant multigenerational saga of the reproductive bonds of destruction and the powerful force of forgiveness. A masterpiece that breathtakingly tells a story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal--this novel is a contemporary retelling of an ancient Hindu myth. A proud king must confront his demons to achieve salvation. Change yourself, the myth instructs, and you will inhabit a renovated world. When you're the same brother of a schizophrenic identical twin, the tricky thing about saving yourself is the blood it leaves on your bands--the little inconvenience of the look-alike corpse at your feet. And if you're into both survival of the fittest and being your brother's keeper--if you've promised your dying mother--then say so long to sleep and hello to the middle of the night. Grab a book or a beer. Get used to Letterman's gap-toothed smile of the absurd, or the view of the bedroom ceiling, or the influence of random selection. Take it from a godless insomniac. Take it from the uncrazy twin--the guy who beat the biochemical rap. Dominick Birdsey's entire life has been compromised and constricted by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother he both deeply loves and resents, and by the past they shared with their adoptive father, Ray, a spit-and-polish ex-Navy man (the five-foot-six-inch sleeping giant who snoozed upstairs weekdays in the spare room and built submarines at night), and their long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip that made her shy and self-conscious: She holds a loose fist to her face to cover her defective mouth--her perpetual apology to the world for a birth defect over which she'd had no control. Born in the waning moments of 1949 and the opening minutes of 1950, the twins are physical mirror images who grow into separate yet connected entities: the seemingly strong and protective yet fearful Dominick, his mother's watchful "monkey"; and the seemingly weak and sweet yet noble Thomas, his mother's gentle "bunny." From childhood, Dominick fights for both separation and wholeness--and ultimately self-protection--in a house of fear dominated by Ray, a bully who abuses his power over these stepsons whose biological father is a mystery. I was still afraid of his anger but saw how he punished weakness--pounced on it. Out of self-preservation I hid my fear, Dominick confesses. As for Thomas, he just never knew how to play defense. He just didn't get it. But Dominick's talent for survival comes at an enormous cost, including the breakup of his marriage to the warm, beautiful Dessa, whom he still loves. And it will be put to the ultimate test when Thomas, a Bible-spouting zealot, commits an unthinkable act that threatens the tenuous balance of both his and Dominick's lives. To save himself, Dominick must confront not only the pain of his past but the dark secrets he has locked deep within himself, and the sins of his ancestors--a quest that will lead him beyond the confines of his blue-collar New England town to the volcanic foothills of Sicily 's Mount Etna, where his ambitious and vengefully proud grandfather and a namesake Domenico Tempesta, the sostegno del famiglia, was born. Each of the stories Ma told us about Papa reinforced the message that he was the boss, that he ruled the roost, that what he said went. Searching for answers, Dominick turns to the whispers of the dead, to the pages of his grandfather's handwritten memoir, The History of Domenico Onofrio Tempesta, a Great Man from Humble Beginnings. Rendered with touches of magic realism, Domenico's fablelike tale--in which monkeys enchant and religious statues weep--becomes the old man's confession--an unwitting legacy of contrition that reveals the truth's of Domenico's life, Dominick learns that power, wrongly used, defeats the oppressor as well as the oppressed, and now, picking through the humble shards of his deconstructed life, he will search for the courage and love to forgive, to expiate his and his ancestors' transgressions, and finally to rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his twin. Set against the vivid panoply of twentieth-century America and filled with richly drawn, memorable characters, this deeply moving and thoroughly satisfying novel brings to light humanity's deepest needs and fears, our aloneness, our desire for love and acceptance, our struggle to survive at all costs. Joyous, mystical, and exquisitely written, I Know This Much Is True is an extraordinary reading experience that will leave no reader untouched.