Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic

• Author: Darby Penney,Peter Stastny
• Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
• ISBN: 1934137235
• Category: Psychology
• Page: 208
• View: 2779

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“The Lives They Left Behind is a deeply moving testament to the human side of mental illness, and of the narrow margin which so often separates the sane from the mad. It is a remarkable portrait, too, of the life of a psychiatric asylum—the sort of community in which, for better and for worse, hundreds of thousands of people lived out their lives. Darby Penney and Peter Stastny’s careful historical (almost archaeological) and biographical reconstructions give us unique insight into these lives which would otherwise be lost and, indeed, unimaginable to the rest of us.” —Oliver Sacks “Fascinating. . . . The haunting thing about the suitcase owners is that it’s so easy to identify with them.” —Newsweek When Willard State Hospital closed its doors in 1995, after operating as one of New York State’s largest mental institutions for over 120 years, a forgotten attic filled with suitcases belonging to former patients was discovered. Using the possessions found in these suitcases along with institutional records and doctors’ notes from patient sessions, Darby Penney, a leading advocate of patients’ rights, and Peter Stastny, a psychiatrist and documentary filmmaker, were able to reconstruct the lives of ten patients who resided at Willard during the first half of the twentieth century. The Lives They Left Behind tells their story. In addition to these human portraits, the book contains over 100 photographs as well as valuable historical background on how this state-funded institution operated. As it restores the humanity of the individuals it so poignantly evokes, The Lives They Left Behind reveals the vast historical inadequacies of a psychiatric system that has yet to heal itself.

• Author: James Long
• Publisher: Hachette UK
• ISBN: 1780875339
• Category: Fiction
• Page: 416
• View: 8903

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In a Somerset village, a teenage boy confronts a teacher with a story he should know nothing about. The boy's impossible knowledge uncovers memories Michael Martin has done his utmost to forget - and soon propels him into danger. As Martin confronts his past once more, three girls arrive in the village of Pen Selwood, one of them drawn by an ancient instinct to find a man called Ferney. Her actions reignite a love story, an instinct that cannot be broken, irrespective of the hurt and danger it brings to those around them...

• Author: Ellen Marie Wiseman
• Publisher: Kensington Books
• ISBN: 0758278462
• Category: Fiction
• Page: 336
• View: 3083

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In this stunning new novel, the acclaimed author of The Plum Tree merges the past and present into a haunting story about the nature of love and loyalty--and the lengths we will go to protect those who need us most. Ten years ago, Izzy Stone's mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother's apparent insanity, Izzy, now seventeen, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster parents, employees at the local museum, have enlisted Izzy's help in cataloging items at a long-shuttered state asylum. There, amid piles of abandoned belongings, Izzy discovers a stack of unopened letters, a decades-old journal, and a window into her own past. Clara Cartwright, eighteen years old in 1929, is caught between her overbearing parents and her love for an Italian immigrant. Furious when she rejects an arranged marriage, Clara's father sends her to a genteel home for nervous invalids. But when his fortune is lost in the stock market crash, he can no longer afford her care—and Clara is committed to the public asylum. Even as Izzy deals with the challenges of yet another new beginning, Clara's story keeps drawing her into the past. If Clara was never really mentally ill, could something else explain her own mother's violent act? Piecing together Clara's fate compels Izzy to re-examine her own choices--with shocking and unexpected results. Illuminating and provocative, What She Left Behind is a masterful novel about the yearning to belong—and the mysteries that can belie even the most ordinary life. Praise For Ellen Marie Wiseman's THE PLUM TREE "Ellen Marie Wiseman's provocative and realistic images of a small German village are exquisite. The Plum Tree will find good company on the shelves of those who appreciated Skeletons at the Feast, by Chris Bohjalian, Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay, and Night, by Elie Wiesel." —New York Journal of Books "The meticulous hand-crafted detail and emotional intensity of The Plum Tree immersed me in Germany during its darkest hours and the ordeals its citizens had to face. A must-read for WWII Fiction aficionados—and any reader who loves a transporting story." —Jenna Blum, New York Times bestselling author of Those Who Save Us "Wiseman eschews the genre's usual military conflicts of daily life during wartime, lending an intimate and compelling poignancy to this intriguing debut." —Publishers Weekly "Ellen Marie Wiseman weaves a story of intrigue, terror, and love from a perspective not often seen in Holocaust novels." —Jewish Book World "A haunting and beautiful debut novel." —Anna Jean Mayhew, author of The Dry Grass of August

Migration and Belonging in the United States and Mexico

• Author: Debra Lattanzi Shutika
• Publisher: Univ of California Press
• ISBN: 0520950232
• Category: Social Science
• Page: 312
• View: 7369

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Over the last three decades, migration from Mexico to the United States has moved beyond the borderlands to diverse communities across the country, with the most striking transformations in American suburbs and small towns. This study explores the challenges encountered by Mexican families as they endeavor to find their place in the U.S. by focusing on Kennett Square, a small farming village in Pennsylvania known as the "Mushroom Capital of the World." In a highly readable account based on extensive fieldwork among Mexican migrants and their American neighbors, Debra Lattanzi Shutika explores the issues of belonging and displacement that are central concerns for residents in communities that have become new destinations for Mexican settlement. Beyond the Borderlands also completes the circle of migration by following migrant families as they return to their hometown in Mexico, providing an illuminating perspective of the tenuous lives of Mexicans residing in, but not fully part of, two worlds.

• Author: Nancy Rehkugler
• Publisher: iUniverse
• ISBN: 1475974671
• Category: Fiction
• Page: 290
• View: 3170

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As she mourns her mother’s death, Delores Williams wonders how her life will change. After the funeral, she uncovers a mysterious collection in a safe deposit box—a collection of papers and old photographs that raise questions about her past. What secrets did her mother take to the grave? Soon after, Delores attends an art exhibit at the Everson Museum in Syracuse. In the gallery, Delores pores over artifacts that were removed from the attic of the Willard Psychiatric Center. Here, the lives of past patients are on displays—and Del is shocked to see a familiar face in one of the portraits. In her confusion, as she attempts to determine what to do next, she stumbles into a church service. There, she meets Eli Fisher, a pastor who offers help as she attempts to unravel her past. As her investigation begins to consume her life, Delores follows the tenuous trail of clues from Syracuse to the Mississippi Delta and, eventually, to Italy. Her journey will help to reveal the shadowy truth that connects four generations of women, each of whom dealt with trauma, abuse, and uncertainty in her own way. Can she find the strength to rise above her family’s past to build a new legacy of hope, love, and redemption?

The True Story of an American Prisoner of War

• Author: Andrew Gabriel
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• ISBN: 0557050448
• Category: Biography & Autobiography
• Page: 112
• View: 2141

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My grandfather, Frank Carollo, was a prisoner of war in the infamous POW camp Stalag 17 B during World War II. During these dark days, he managed to keep a diary of his experiences, depicting everyday life within, through beautiful short stories, poetry, and drawings. Now years later, I've taken his accounts, adding background details from friends and family, to create a memoir of hope, love, and survival; a story of one man's life before, during, and after being confined within one of the most notorious of Nazi camps. 20% of the profits from each book sold will be donated to the national Alzheimer's Association, in memory of Frank Carollo.

• Author: Michael John LaChiusa
• Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Inc
• ISBN: 9780822219736
• Category: Drama
• Page: 51
• View: 2761

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THE STORY: I never really knew what I was like until I quit smoking, by which time there was hell to pay. So observes Charlotte, a young writer of short stories as she confronts her past, present and future in post 9/11 Manhattan. With the help o

A Novel

• Author: Frederik Pohl
• Publisher: Macmillan
• ISBN: 9781429956642
• Category: Fiction
• Page: 352
• View: 4682

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Two thousand years after Pompeii's destruction, a thriller of upheaval—volcanic and political—as only SF Grandmaster Frederik Pohl can write it! With a keen eye for the humanity in any situation, science fiction icon Frederik Pohl has crafted a compelling new novel of a not-too-distant future we can only hope is merely science fiction. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. it gave so little warning that Pompeiians were caught unawares, and many bodies were preserved in volcanic ash. Two thousand years later, in 2079, Pompeii is a popular theme park eagerly anticipating Il Giubeleo, the Jubilee celebration of the great anniversary. But Vesuvius is still capable of erupting, and even more threatening are terrorists who want to use the occasion to draw attention to their cause by creating a huge disaster. As the fateful day draws near, people from all over the world—workers, tourists, terrorists—caught in the shadow of the volcano will grapple with upheaval both natural and political. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

• Author: Lilian Harry
• Publisher: Hachette UK
• ISBN: 1409130339
• Category: Fiction
• Page: 448
• View: 2432

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The second novel in the April Grove series, following the lives of working-class families during the Second World War. It is 1940, and the neighbours in April Grove are close knit, patriotic and proud - but the onset of the Blitz tests their loyalties and courage as never before. Betty Chapman meets a devastatingly attractive man in the Land Army, who upsets all her settled ideas; Olive Harker, just married, must now decide whether to risk motherhood; and Nancy Baxter offers comfort to lonely serviceman while her son runs wild... Their stories are played out against the backdrop of a great seaport at war: the horror of the air raid sirens, the naval dockyards buzzing with activity and the overwhelming desire to survive the city's darkest hour...

How African-Americans Can Unlock Ultimate Success, Find True Fulfillment, and Bring Healing to Their People

• Author: Jean Louis Tailly
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
• ISBN: 146283311X
• Category: Religion
• Page: 336
• View: 6658

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We Are Joseph a powerful historic book written by Jean Louis Tailly seeks to fi nd a lasting solution to the ongoing crises in Africa. The book brings to life the hardships, humiliation, and expected triumphs of broken family relationships, poverty, hostility, and horrors associated with slavery. We Are Joseph explores the good that can come out of slavery. The story of Joseph forms the backdrop of this book highlighting Josephs painful separation from his family, his life as a slave in a foreign land, his eventual rise to power and reconciliation with his brothers. It describes the striking similarities between Josephs experience and the African-American experience in slavery. Tailly looks at slavery not from the human perspective but from a godly perspective. We Are Joseph is about the history, identity, and destiny of African- Americans. It is a history full of victories and defeats but more importantly, a history rich with lessons that can help build a brighter future for generations to come. The book also answers the question of why African-Americans were brought to America and gives compelling reasons why they are Gods chosen instrument to unify the Africans, bring them peace, stability, and prosperity, and repair the psychological, sociological, and economical damages caused by the Atlantic slave trade.