In the home where Arabella Godwin was raised it is forbidden to speak her name, and her picture is turned to the wall. But in the turbulent America of the 1850s, everyone knows her as "Belle Cora," madam of San Francisco's finest bordello. Judges and senators do her bidding; a vicious newspaper editor plots her downfall; a preacher looks at her from across his pulpit and tries to forget that once she was his wife. Merchant's daughter, farm girl, prostitute, mother, madam, murderess, avenger, protector—she has worn all these masks: the only thing that never changes is her tireless pursuit of the one man who can see her for who she really is.

Belle Cora

Literature & Fiction

Margulies, Phillip

United States

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

"I had crossed all the lines they you say you can never cross without being destroyed, and here I was, alive and strong." In the grand tradition of Moll Flanders and Vanity Fair, this is the story of a good girl who became a bad woman. At the old homestead her name is never spoken and her picture is turned to the wall, but in the vast world beyond everyone remembers her as the celebrated madam of the finest parlor house in San Francisco. Now, at the end of her life, after half a century of successfully hiding the details of her scarlet past, Belle has decided to reveal all her secrets. In 1838, Arabella Godwin and her beloved younger brother, Lewis, are orphaned and shipped away from their home in New York City to live on their aunt's desolate farm upstate. The comforts she has always known are replaced with grueling work and a pair of cunning enemies in her cousins Agnes and Matthew. Amid this bleak existence, there emerges light in the form of a local boy, Jeptha Talbot. He is everything good that Arabella craves. His love saves her and becomes an obsession that will last her whole life. Time and again she will be broken and remade. She will bear a gambler’s child, build a fortune, commit murder, leave a trail of aliases in her wake and sacrifice almost everything—though perhaps not enough--for the man whose love she cannot bear to lose. At last her destiny will take her to Gold Rush California, to riches and power. Until the day she mysteriously disappears. Told with unflagging wit and verve, Belle Cora brings to life a turbulent era and an untamed America on the cusp of greatness. Its heroine is a woman in conflict with her time, who nevertheless epitomizes it with her fighting spirit, her gift for self-invention, and her determination to chart her own fate.

Belle Cora: A Novel

DOUBLEDAY

How to Do a Superior Performance Appraisal

The complete guide to painless, mutually profitable performance appraisals. How to do a Superior Performance Appraisal For anybody who equates doing a performance appraisal with a dental appointment, here's a complete guide to painless, mutually profitable appraisals. Written by bestselling management author and Fortune 1000 consultant William S. Swan, it shows you how to transform what traditionally has been a source of potential conflict among managers and staff members, into a productive and mutually profitable process for both employer and employee. * A systematic, step-by-step guide to conducting appraisals that reduces defensiveness and conflict while increasing quality and productivity * All the nuts and bolts of doing an appraisal: data collecting, avoiding errors, knowing EEO guidelines, and much more * Packed with useful checklists, information sheets,and sample dialogues, including a model performance appraisal form incorporating what has been proven to be the most powerful approach * Throughout, the emphasis is on performance management vs. simplistic "report-card" type systems

Business & Money

Swan, William S.

Management & Leadership

wiley

Examines key trends and events during the 1920s that affected the course of political and social history in the United States.

The Roaring 20's (Turning Points in World History)

Teen & Young Adult

Education & Reference

Greenhaven Press

A history of Korea from the origins of its people in prehistoric times to the economic and political situation in North and South Korea at the beginning of the 21st century. The book provides a detailed overview of the cultural and historical influences that have shaped Korean society.

A Brief History Of Korea

History

Peterson, Mark

World

FACTS ON FILE+

History suggests that the existence of a weapon leads to its eventual use in war, as illustrated by the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. At the opening of the atomic age, scientists, political analysts, generals, and politicians were haunted by the idea that nuclear wars could not be won; both sides would be virtually destroyed. The stakes of the game have only continued to rise as the club of nations currently possessing nuclear arms has become less and less exclusive: the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, England, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. Following a detailed analysis of this timely issue. Nuclear Nonproliferation explores the threat of nuclear production and the potential for solutions in four regions of the world--the United States, South Asia (India and Pakistan), the Middle East (Israel, Iraq, and Iran), and East Asia (North Korea).

Nuclear Nonproliferation (Global Issues (Facts on File))

Military

This volume examines questions concerning when the US should use military force, how America should respond to globalization, and whether organizations such as the United Nations still work. It explores America's role through the perspectives of Europe, Latin America, the Islamic World, Asia, and Russia.

America's Role in the World (Global Issues (Facts on File))

Reference

Traces the history, current issues, and future of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a rare genetic disorder that effects the brain and is part of the same group of illnesses as "mad cow disease."

Creutzfeldt-jakob Disease (Epidemics)

Personal Health

Rosen Young Adult

Looks at the disease known as West Nile fever caused by West Nile virus, tracing its history to the present and predicting its future.

West Nile Virus: Epidemics Deadly Diseases Throughout History

Rosen Pub. Group

Presents an overview of rheumatic fever that includes the history of the disease, new developments in combating it, and new ways to prevent its spread.

Everything You Need to Know About Rheumatic Fever (Need to Know Library)

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