When John Barton's wife dies, he is forced to raise his daughter, Mary, alone, while he grieves the love of his life. Though he is a hard-working man, John struggles to provide for his family. Realizing how unfair his financial situation is, John becomes very resentful towards the unethical distribution of wealth between the social classes. Against John's wishes, when Mary comes of age, she decides to help support their family by working in a dressmaking...

When a woman's four-year-old son and husband are killed in a suicide bombing at a London soccer match, the woman writes a letter directly to Osama bin Laden to convince him to stop his attacks. The woman then takes a job helping the anti-terrorism effort, but outside her doors, the world feels like a war zone--and it pushes her to desperation.

Meet the Members of the Breakup Club... Lucy Miller-Masterson: Superstar editor of bestselling books, supermom to a precocious preteen and superwife of a hot doctor... until she learns her husband's New Year's resolution is "Leave Lucy. "Miranda Miller: Stuck under her big sister's shadow, this twentysomething editorial assistant hopes her perfect ex-boyfriend will come crawling back... with a diamond ring. Christopher Levy: The women at the office...

In 1912, rational Fred Fairly, one of Cambridge's best and brightest, crashes his bike and wakes up in bed with a stranger--fellow casualty Daisy Saunders, a charming, pretty, generous working-class nurse. So begins a series of complications--not only of the heart but also of the head--as Fred and Daisy take up each other's education and turn each other's philosophies upside down.

Annice, Pat, and Barby are best friends from Iowa, freshly arrived in booming 1950s Chicago to explore different paths toward independence, self-expression, and sexual freedom. From the hip-hang of a bohemian lifestyle to the sophisticated lure of romance with a handsome, wealthy, married boss to the happier security of a lesbian relationship, these three experience firsthand the dangers and limitations of women's economic reliance on men. Lesbian...

Vivid, bawdy and bitter' (The Times), Pat Barker's first novel shows the women of Union Street, young and old, meeting the harsh challeges of poverty and survival in a precarious world. There's Kelly, at eleven, neglected and independent, dealing with a squalid rape; Dinah, knocking on sixty and still on the game; Joanne, not yet twenty, not yet married, and already pregnant; Old Alice, welcoming her impending death; Muriel helplessly watching the...