For the twice-published novelist, reading an article about herself in the National Enquirer—under the headline "Here's One for the Books: Cleaning Lady Is an Acclaimed Author"—was more than a shock. It was an inspiration.
In A Broom of One's Own, Nancy Peacock, whose first novel was selected by the New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year, explores with warmth, wit, and candor what it means to be a writer. An encouragement to all hard-working artists, no matter how they make a living, Peacock's book provides valuable insights and advice on motivation, craft, and criticism while offering hilarious anecdotes about the houses she cleans.

A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning, and Life

Biographies & Memoirs

PEACOCK, NANCY

Arts & Literature

Harper-perennial

This is the kind of book that you read, love and then give to a friend saying, "You have to read this... In a powerful and acute debut, highly acclaimed author Nancy Peacock gives us a young narrator who is both knowing and innocent, trusting and fearful: a girl named Cedar, who reflects on her childhood in the wake of the Vietnam war. As she and her young mother Sara both come of age, Cedar explores the intense bond--and discovers the boundaries--of their mother-daughter relationship. Living as hippies in an abandoned farmhouse in North Carolina, Sara and Cedar survive a number of romantic and domestic misadventures, first with Cedar's father Sol, and later with a group of friends living together in a commune-style home. Lyrical, bittersweet and utterly unforgettable, Life Without Water uniquely captures this time--and its joys, hazards, complexities and disappointments.

Life Without Water

Literature & Fiction

Bantam]

With the simple, evocative grace of her nationally acclaimed debut novel, Life Without Water, Nancy Peacock has created a poignant story of two families -- one black, one white -- and the North Carolina house that binds their lives together for more than a hundred years. In 1861, Roseberry was the plantation home of the white Redds; the black Redds were one of the slave families who worked there. In 1971, Roseberry stands empty, a wisteria vine growing through the dining room window, and China Redd, who worked in the house for half a century, is ready to die. But first she has a story to tell. Not the one recorded by Lydia Redd, the matron of the house, in her own book, beginning with the earrings, the selling if Cleavis, and the curse, and ending with the death of Coyle, the last of the white Redds. If she has nothing else from the forty-seven years of work in a house where nothing was her own, she has this story. Moving effortlessly back and forth in time through the parallel legends of the Redd families, Home Across the Road is a beautiful, haunting, and timeless drama that touches your heart and soul.

Home Across the Road

Contemporary

Discusses five cases of heinous crimes, including genocide, murder, and serial rape, in which prosecutors used extraordinary legal or evidentiary strategies to present the case.

Great Prosecutions (Crime, Justice and Punishment)

Teen & Young Adult

Chelsea House Pub

Provides young adults with up-to-date information on the history, causes and effects of, and treatment and therapies for alcoholism--one of society's most devastating problems--and includes an index and a glossary of terms.

Drowning Our Sorrows: Psychological Effects of Alcohol Abuse (The Encyclopedia of Psychological Disorders)

Children's Books

Describes the history and addictive nature of nicotine use in various forms and its harmful effects, with an emphasis on related psychological disorders.

Smoke Screen: Psychological Disorders Related to Nicotine Use (Encyclopedia of Psychological Disorders)

Partner, Daniel

Education & Reference

Describes the effect of alcohol on the body, the reasons why people use it, the dangers of abusing it, and methods of treatment and the prevention of addiction

Alcohol (Junior Drug Awareness)

Growing Up & Facts of Life

A biography of the man who founded Wendy's, one of the nation's largest restaurant chains.

Dave Thomas (Overcoming Adversity)

Biographies

Dave Thomas : Overcoming Adversity

1875: Drunken Bride, Texas. An ex-slave named Persimmon Wilson awaits his hanging for the murder of the man who once owned him. As he waits, he pens his story. The journey of Persimmon Wilson takes the reader from the brutality of slavery on a Louisiana sugar plantation to a ranch on the Texas frontier to life among the Comanche Indians.

The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson

Literary

Nancy Peacock

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Books by PEACOCK, NANCY