Diane Johnson is een Amerikaanse romanschrijfster en essayiste wier satirische romans vaak Amerikaanse heldinnen bevatten die in het hedendaagse Frankrijk wonen. Haar werk wordt gekenmerkt door scherpe observaties van culturele botsingen en aanpassing. Johnson onderzoekt de ironieën en complexiteiten van het leven ver van huis, vaak met een lichte toets en scherpe humor. Haar schrijven nodigt lezers uit om na te denken over identiteit en verbondenheid in een geglobaliseerde wereld.
Failed satanic high priest Lucas seeks redemption for his sins in a Christian commune. The day comes when the commune leader learns of Lucas' past as well as his connection to a celebrity faith healer who is rumored to be an atheist. Lucas must now prove his spiritual worth in order to remain a member of the commune. In order to save himself, he must save someone else, but his warped sense of right and wrong puts the faith healer and his family in mortal danger. 'Prophet Reborn' is a thrill filled sequel to Diane M. Johnson's 'Perfect Prophet.' The works raise questions about the morals people value, and those they do not by telling the story of two brothers who are anything but perfect.
""Many people have described the Famous Writer presiding at his dinner table. . . . He is famous; everybody remembers his remarks. . . . We forget that there were other family members at the table-a quiet person, now muffled by time, shadowy, whose heart pounded with love, perhaps, or rage." So begins The True History of the First Mrs. Meredith and Other Lesser Lives, an uncommon biography devoted to one of those "lesser lives." As the author points out, "A lesser life does not seem lesser to the person who leads one." Such sympathy and curiosity compelled Diane Johnson to research Mary Ellen Peacock Meredith (1821-1861), the daughter of the famous artist Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866) and first wife of the equally famous poet George Meredith (1828-1909). Her life, treated perfunctorily and prudishly in biographies of Peacock or Meredith, is here exquisitely and unhurriedly given its due. What emerges is the portrait of a brilliant, well-educated woman, raised unconventionally by her father only to feel more forcefully the constraints of the Victorian era. First published in 1972, Lesser Lives has been a key text for feminists and biographers alike, a book that reimagined what biography might be, both in terms of subject and style. Biographies of other "lesser" lives have since followed in its footsteps, but few have the wit, elegance, and empathy of Johnson's seminal work"-- Provided by publisher
When Amy Hawkins, a young dot-com executive from California who has made her fortune at the top of the NASDAQ, overhears a pair of elderly - and thus much wiser - socialites decry the new generation for their incompetence in all things worldly, she sets off for Europe to find culture, her roots, and maybe a cause to devote her considerable fortune to. Amy starts her quest at one of the finest small hotels in the French Alps - a hotel noted for skiing and its famous cooking lessons - in the town of Valméri. A few days into her trip, Amy is nearly swept away by an avalanche (started, some say, by low-flying American warplanes). Two of the hotel's guests, esteemed English publisher Adrian Venn and his much younger American wife, Kerry, were not as fortunate as Amy. Both lie comatose in a nearby hospital. Learning that French and English laws dictate a very different division of money depending on where Adrian dies, Adrian's children - young, old, legitimate, and illegitimate - assemble in Valméri to protect their interests should he not pull through. Amy, already suspect as an American, finds that her nationality freezes the social climate as she steps in to assist the family. In her innocence, Amy sets in motion a series of events in France and England that spotlight ancient national differences, customs, and laws. Add one or two small affairs that may topple carefully balanced alliances, and soon it is, as the French say, a situation .
A certain smile: "A young woman bored with her lover, begins an affair with an older man that unfolds in unexpected and troubling ways."--Publisher description.
“Funny, incisive, frightening and eminently skillful."— New York TimesThe year is 1978, the tumultuous period leading up to the Iranian Revolution. While visiting Iran with her husband, Chloe Fowler is left to travel alone after he is summoned home. Much to her surprise, she finds herself drawn to the country, intoxicated by each unfamiliar sight that reminds her how far from home she really is, both comforted and unsettled by the group of foreign and Iranian physicians and their wives who take her in. However, her exhilaration crashes when odd, often frightening events begin to occur, exposing the darker side of this "colonial life." Chloe is about to be liberated from everything she has ever known—in a place where her ordinary notions of reason and reality will run headlong into a wall of intrigue, and where every idea she has about herself will be put to the test.Persian Nights follows Chloe on a voyage through the seductively inexplicable, and has all the qualities one expects from the gifted author of Le Divorce —the quirky, vivid atmosphere; the intelligent, humane voice; the compelling narrative. Once again, Diane Johnson delivers an entertaining novel of an appealing woman caught up in a mysterious world of change and intrigue.
Clara Holly is a former actress, beautiful, rich, and 'well married, far from her Oregon beginnings' to the renowned but reclusive film director Serge Clay. Anne-Sophie is a proper young Frenchwoman with a smart little antique stall in the Paris flea market and a wedding to plan. As the plot thickens they are all drawn into a cross between a modern Feydeau farce and a Kafkaesque nightmare, as their paths and those of a host of other characters intersect at the Cray's château. Despite murder, misunderstanding, hostage-taking and erotic encounters, however, le marriage must go ahead in the grand French style.
Isabel Walker, a young, not-so-innocent, American abroad, arrives in Paris to find that her sister's French husband ('the frog prince') has just walked out. While Isabel embarks on her own sentimental education -seduced by gourmet food, antiques, existentialism and an older man -her sister's marriage disintegrates into bitter Franco-American wrangles over money, titles and a mysterious painting. With a sharp tongue and an ironic eye for the foibles of the Parisian bourgeoisie, the French art world and American ex-patriots, Isabel is a collector of experience, even those she can't control.
The two-time Pulitzer Prize- and three-time National Book Award-nominated author of the bestseller "Le Divorce" returns with a mesmerizing novel of double standards and double agents.
A transformative journey unfolds as the author shares personal experiences of waking early to study the Bible, leading to heartfelt devotionals on themes like depression, love, and trust. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the author found peace and a desire to inspire others. This collection features the first twenty-six of fifty-two devotionals, aiming to provide hope, strength, and encouragement for readers facing life's challenges. The book emphasizes reliance on God and the power of faith in overcoming struggles.
The plot revolves around the enchanting city of Picturia, which faces a dire threat from Ig, who unleashes The HAZE, a force that spreads apathy and indifference among its citizens. As the vibrant spirit of the city begins to fade, Ig's sinister plan aims to destroy Picturia while its inhabitants remain oblivious to the looming danger. The story explores themes of awareness, community, and the battle against complacency in the face of adversity.
