While Hedley Vaughn tenaciously clings to his farm, his young wife, Janet, seeks an escape from her unbearable boredom in the arms of Lucien Quirk, a battle-scarred World War II veteran

The Pull of the Earth (Contemporary American Fiction)

Alcorn, Alfred

Literature & Fiction

Penguin??Books

While Hedley Vaughn tenaciously clings to his farm, his younger wife, Janet, seeks an escape from her unbearable boredom in the arms of Lucien Quirk, a battle-scarred World War II veteran

The Pull of the Earth

Houghton, mifflin, harcourt

From Publishers Weekly Alcorn's intelligent, satisfying second novel (after The Pull of the Earth), concerns a successful Boston journalist whose smugly cynical view of the world is dramatically overturned by a calamitous series of events, a trial-by-fire that eventually leads to spiritual rebirth. Sebastian Taggart makes a handsome living writing and delivering "liberal" editorials for a local TV station, while mocking these humanitarian sentiments off-camera. He shares a chic co-op with an attractive and WASPy interior designer whose ingenuous willingness to embrace the faddish makes her an easy foil for his scalding wit. An orphan, Sebastian was adopted by an Irish-Catholic aunt, who now lies slowly dying in a nursing home; in her delirium, Aunt Esther imagines her nephew to be a priest, and Sebastian is happy to indulge this fantasy by wearing a clerical collar during his bedside visits since he believes that the aunt has left him a fortune in her will. The act of donning a priest's vestments opens a Pandora's box of unresolved feelings and buried spiritual leanings in Sebastian's lapsed Catholic soul. Meanwhile, a series of personal disasters leads him to reexamine his beliefs and consider devoting himself wholeheartedly to a faith that he had previously rejected. An intelligent and skillfully written book, moving deftly between low comedy and high seriousness, the narrative addresses important issues dealing with "looking for a world of faith beyond the world of things." This entertaining tale of the hectic progress of a modern-day pilgrim should increase Alcorn's stature as a gifted novelist with a moral vision. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Sebastian Taggart, a cynical British expatriate living in Boston, learns that his wealthy maiden aunt is dying of cancer. The old woman had always hoped that Sebastian would enter the priesthood; now, to brighten her final days (and to guarantee himself a place in her will) Sebastian begins to visit her wearing a fake clerical collar. But the disguise somehow makes him feel betterwiser, more temperate, and chaste. Dressing up becomes an obsession, and soon he is doing so at every spare moment. He loses his job, his fiancee, and his friends, but he feels that it is all for the best: the solitude will give him time to re-read St. Augustine. This is a frequently funny but fundamentally serious religious novel that recalls the works of such great Catholic satirists as Evelyn Waugh and Wilfrid Sheed. Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch., Los AngelesCopyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Vestments

Houghton/Mifflin

Fiction. SUGAR MOUNTAIN is a cautionary tale about an all-too-possible catastrophe: a deadly flu epidemic that starts in China and spreads throughout the world, slowly at first, then unbelievably fast. And there is no cure. People who prepare for such possibilities are variously referred to as "homesteaders," "preppers," or "survivalists." This is a story of one such extended family, the Arkwrights, and how, at their farm in western Massachusetts, they gather and stand together in the face of a relentless mass killer. As well as the ravaging influenza, they must contend with provisioning themselves and fending off a local well-armed and ruthless para-military group all the while hanging on to enough humanity to make their survival meaningful. SUGAR MOUNTAIN explores how such a calamity affects individual family members, their neighbors—many of whom are not prepared—and society as a whole. This is a story of a fight to survive in the midst of pressures and threats and against long odds. As one member of the family records in her journal, "The world is coming to an end... The world is starting all over again."

Sugar Mountain

Contemporary

Caravel Mystery Books

Time Is The Fire recounts a day in the existence of Leopold Bloom O Boyle, chronophobe, travel writer, would-be novelist, and husband of the Reverend Annabel Chance. The day is September 8, 1992, and the place is Harvard Square and environs. Like his namesake, Leo dips into and out of a stream of consciousness as he considers and reconsiders the most important decision of his life.

Time Is The Fire

Humor & Satire

Pleasure Boat Studio

Literary

Pleasure Boat Studio: A Literary Press

In the aftermath of a murder at a city museum, Norman de Ratour, a self-effacing secretary and fastidious sleuth, begins an investigation and uncovers a cannibal cult in the anthropology section and eugenics in the genetics lab. IP.

Murder In The Museum Of Man

United States

Zoland Books

In the aftermath of a murder at a city museum, Norman de Ratour, a self-effacing secretary and fastidious sleuth, begins an investigation and uncovers a cannibal cult in the anthropology section and eugenics in the genetics lab

Murder in the Museum of Man

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

A striking range of brilliant oils and pastels by a master of colour, light, and atmosphere, taking inspiration from the realists' attention to physical details and the fauvists' use of untamed colours and forms.

John Stockwell: Landscapes

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Hudson Hills

Dean Cranston Fessing, dispatched from Wainscott University to investigate the finances of the neighboring Museum of Man, has been murdered. Not only that, but his grisly remains bear the unmistakable mark of preparation as haute cuisine. Norman de Ratour, museum recording secretary and unlikely sleuth, sets out to uncover a bubbling cauldron of clues in this hilarious satire of academic life and contemporary social issues, a stew of murder, cannibalism, political posturing. and high camp.

Murder in the Museum of Man: A Norman de Ratour Mystery

Steerforth

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Alcorn, Alfred. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Alcorn, Alfred

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Alcorn, Alfred. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Pull of the Earth (Contemporary American Fiction)

The Pull of the Earth

Vestments

Sugar Mountain

Time Is The Fire

Sugar Mountain

Murder In The Museum Of Man

Murder in the Museum of Man

John Stockwell: Landscapes

Murder in the Museum of Man: A Norman de Ratour Mystery