Terry Mangan Memorial Library

A tale inspired by the final days of literary master Stephen Crane is set in the underworld of turn-of-the-century New York and follows his death-bed dictation of his final novel, "The Painted Boy," while biding farewell to a long-time love

When Lady Joanna Sinclair meets Lady Diana March, on horseback and clad in male attire, she is outraged by such bizarre and unacceptable behavior. Still, she is irresistibly drawn to the headstrong Diana, under whose influence she asserts her independence from her arrogant and overbearing brother, Hugo. But in England's regency period, to love one's own sex was a risk taken only by the most daring.

An English student is so impressed by a book of philosophy that he travels to France to meet its author, now in an insane asylum. In describing the relationship which grows up between the two men, the novel looks at the bonds that are created between reader and writer, even though they never meet. A first novel.

"Cactus is a novel about four women, how they affect each other, how they struggle to survive. As her daughters grow up, Bea begins to reassess her marriage, her youth, her likely future as a superfluous middle-aged, middle class woman. Ann and Dee are lesbian feminists trying, against formidable odds, to make a world in which they would be at home. Eleanor, finding herself drawn into relationships with the others, sees her painfully acquired independence...

Expelled from school, advised to leave university, and forced to resign from the army, Captain Jacinth Crewe has precious few options open to him. For a man in his position, an approach to join a sinister British Government security organisation, with a training centre in Rome, is not an opportunity to be turned down. In Rome, he learns fast how to be ruthless. There is one final mission to complete his training however - to kill an American diplomat...

Now a major motion picture: A deliciously wicked and amusing tale of a cranky curmudgeon investigating strange goings-on at an English country house ( The New York Times ). I've suffered for my art, now it's your turn. So begins the story of Ted Wallace, unaffectionately known as the Hippopotamus. Failed poet, failed theater critic, failed father and husband, Ted is a shameless womanizer, drinks too much, and is at odds in his cranky but maddeningly...