Best Selling Books by Jane Smiley

As part of the wonderful Collector''s Library Series, Black Beauty is one of the best is one of the best-loved classics of all time. This attractive volume contains the complete and unabridged story with 12 full color illustrations, plus numerous black & white illustrations throughout. The deluxe edition features a full piece cloth case, a four color illustrated onlay on the front cover, foil stamping on front and spine, stained edges on three sides, printed endpapers with book plate, and a satin ribbon marker. This book should have an honored place in any child''s library.

True Blue is a beauty, a dappled gray, and when Abby gets to take him to her family''s ranch, she can hardly believe her luck. The horse needs a home: his owner—a woman brand new to the riding stable--was tragically killed in a car crash and no one has claimed him. Daddy is wary, as always. But Abby is smitten. True Blue is a sweetheart, and whenever Abby calls out, "Blue, Blue, how are you?" he whinnies back. But sometimes True Blue seems...spooked. He paces, and always seems to be looking for something. Or someone. Abby starts to wonder about True Blue''s owner. What was she like? What did she look like? One moonlit night, Abby could swear she hears a whisper in her ear: "He''s still my horse." Filled with riding scenes and horse details, this newest middle-grade novel from a Pulitzer Prize-winner offers a mysterious and suspenseful almost-ghost story.

A young rider encounters well-known horses and new friends in the final installment of the Ellen & Ned trilogy by Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley. Ellen''s family has moved to a new town...but some things, like her love for horses, remain the same. Ellen is now the proud owner of her own horse, Tater. She''s learning new skills and challenging herself as a rider...but she still can''t stop thinking about Ned, the feisty former racehorse she sees on the ranch during her lessons. In the meantime, Ellen''s making new friends and encountering old ones. Most exciting of all is Da, a boy from a riding family who is possessed of a spirit of mischief and daring and knows his own mind. Ellen still has a lot to learn...about horses, friendship, and herself. And will she ever be able to get Ned off her mind?

From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley comes the first instalment in a landmark trilogy spanning the last hundred years. "Intimate . . . Miraculous . . . Staggering . . . A masterpiece in the making." USA Today Life can change in an instant, and as those changes amass over the course of one hundred years, something extraordinary happens - history is made. In this masterful novel, Jane Smiley explores the triumphs and tragedies of one family, while casting a panoramic eye on the first half of the twentieth century, a time of monumental change. Some Luck opens on the humble, heavily indebted Langdon family farm in 1920. We meet Rosanna and Walter, their curious, brilliant newborn Frank. Soon the family grows to five children, all wildly different yet remarkable, with such potential to mark history in their own ways. Yet as time passes, as it must, some thrive as others fall victim to flaws and fate. Who will persevere? Who will simply, sadly, be forgotten? With shared joys and hushed secrets, through times of economic and political volatility, Some Luck examines the nature of family, character, and how we are all changed by circumstances unforeseen. National Book Award Nominee 2014 A Best Book of the Year 2014: The Washington Post, NPR, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times, The Seattle Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, BookPage

A Pulitzer Prize winner makes her debut for young readers. Abby Lovitt has been riding horses for as long as she can remember, but Daddy hasn''t let her name a single one. He calls all their geldings George and their mares Jewel and warns her not to get attached. The horses are there on the ranch to be sold, plain and simple. But with all the stress at school (the Big Four—Linda, Mary A., Mary N., Joan—have turned against her) and home (nothing feels right with her brother, Danny, gone), Abby can''t help but seek comfort in the Georges and the Jewels, who greet her every day with soft nickers. Except for one: the horse who won''t meet her gaze, the horse who bucks her off, the horse Daddy insists she ride and train. Abby knows not to cross her father, but she knows, too, that she can''t get back on Ornery George. And suddenly the horses seem like no refuge at all. From Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley comes an emotionally charged and action-filled novel for young readers, set in the vibrant landscape of 1960s California horse country.

The author explores the high-stakes world of horse racing, drawing on her knowledge of equine behavior, trainers, veterinarians, and jockeys as she relates the story of two of her own horses as they begin their careers.

Gee Whiz is a striking horse, and only part of that is because of his size. He is tall, but also graceful, yet his strides big but precise. At the same time, he keeps his eye on things, not as if he''s suspicious, but as if he''s curious. When Abby is confronted with an onslaught of reminders of just how little of the world she has seen, she finds herself connecting with Gee Whiz''s calm and curious nature, and his desire to know more. Her brother receives a draft notice to Vietnam, her friends return for the holidays with stories from their boarding school in Southern California, and the wise, lovable Brother Abner opens her eyes with tales of his many years spent traveling. At the same time, her beloved Jack and True Blue are both faced with opportunites to broaden their horizons away from the ranch. Will she let them go, with hopes that she might one day do the same?

Abby Lovitt doesn''t realize how unprepared she is when she takes her beloved horse, True Blue, to a clinic led by the most famous equestrian anyone knows. The biggest surprise, though, is that Sophia, the girl who never makes a mistake, suddenly makes so many that she stops riding. Who will ride her horse? Abby''s dad seems to think it will be Abby. Pie in the Sky is the most expensive horse Abby has ever ridden. But he is proud and irritable, and he takes Abby''s attention away from the continuing mystery that is True Blue. And then there''s high school—Abby finds new friends, but also new challenges, and a larger world that sometimes seems strange and intimidating. She begins to wonder if there is another way to look at horses, people, and life itself. Accompanied by the beautiful imagery of 1960s Northern California, Abby''s charming mix of innocence and wisdom guide us through Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley''s latest middle-grade horse novel.

When eighth grader Abby Lovitt looks out at those pure-gold rolling hills, she knows there’s no place she’d rather be than her family’s ranch—even with all the hard work of tending to nine horses. But some chores are no work at all, like grooming young Jack. At eight months, his rough foal coat has shed out, leaving a smooth, rich silk, like chocolate. As for Black George, such a good horse, it turns out he’s a natural jumper. When he and Abby clear four feet easy as pie, heads start to turn at the ring—buyers’ heads—and Abby knows Daddy won’t turn down a good offer. Then a letter arrives from a private investigator, and suddenly Abby stands to lose not one horse but two. The letter states that Jack’s mare may have been sold to the Lovitts as stolen goods. A mystery unfolds, more surprising than Abby could ever expect. Will she lose her beloved Jack to his rightful owners? Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley raises horses of her own, and her affection and expertise shine through in this inviting horse novel for young readers, set in 1960s California horse country and featuring characters from The Georges and the Jewels.

Ellen is a spirited - and occasionally misbehaving - young horseback-riding student. Ellen is only allowed to go to riding lessons when she behaves at school and at home. Ellen has a knack for speaking out of turn in class, and with a new sibling on the way, she can''t resist taking advantage of her parents'' distraction...

More than 20 well-known writers and celebrities share the travel experiences that shaped their personalities and changed their lives. Contributors include Dave Eggers, Richard Ford, Pico Iyer, John Berendt, Alexander McCall Smith and Jane Smiley. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveler since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travelers. You’ll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.

Gathered from approximately one hundred fifty writing workshops around the United States and Canada, this collection of short stories presents a variety of new voices, settings, and styles that capture all facets and visions of North American life.

Selected lectures from writers'' conferences on the art and craft of finding and using artistic inspiration feature the works of Jane Smiley, Gary Snyder, Miroslav Holub, and Mary Clearman Blew.

From one of our most acclaimed novelists, a David-and-Goliath biography for the digital age. One night in the late 1930s, in a bar on the Illinois–Iowa border, John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of physics at Iowa State University, after a frustrating day performing tedious mathematical calculations in his lab, hit on the idea that the binary number system and electronic switches, comu00adbined with an array of capacitors on a moving drum to serve as memory, could yield a computing machine that would make his life and the lives of other similarly burdened scientists easier. Then he went back and built the machine. It worked. The whole world changed. Why don’t we know the name of John Atanasoff as well as we know those of Alan Turing and John von Neumann? Because he never patented the device, and because the developers of the far-better-known ENIAC almost certainly stole critical ideas from him. But in 1973 a court declared that the patent on that Sperry Rand device was invalid, opening the intellectual property gates to the computer revolution. Jane Smiley tells the quintessentially American story of the child of immigrants John Atanasoff with technical clarity and narrative drive, making the race to develop digital computing as gripping as a real-life techno-thriller.

1851, Monterey, Californie. L’Ouest, le vrai. Prématurément veuve – délivrée d’un mari qu’elle a suivi sans passion depuis son Michigan natal –, la jeune Eliza devient prostituée dans une maison bien tenue, sous l’égide d’une patronne soucieuse du bien-être de ses « filles », la très sage Mrs Parks. C’est le temps de l’indépendance, des amitiés confraternelles, de la découverte de soi et de la littérature. Mais voilà qu''une série de meurtres viennent faucher de jeunes consoeurs. Face à l’indifférence des autorités, et inspirée par les aventures du détective Dupin, d’Edgar Allan Poe, Eliza décide de mener l’enquête. La grande Jane Smiley revient célébrer avec malice l’élan de rébellion féminin et signe un western souriant, une enquête à la Agatha Christie au temps de la ruée vers l’or.

Traducere și note de Irina Bojin Autoare laureată a Premiului Pulitzer Bestseller național 2021 în Statele Unite • Roman finalist la American Library in Paris Book Award 2021 „Indiferent dacă veți aborda acest roman ca pe o fabulă sau o alegorie, ca pe o carte de aventuri sau ca pe un studiu despre bunătate, ba chiar și ca pe o imagine magică a Parisului, veți descoperi o scriitură și o artă de a povesti de mâna întâi. Mulți critici au descris Perestroika la Paris ca pe un antidot la timpurile neliniștite pe care le trăim. Au dreptate. Citind acest roman, cei mai mulți nu se vor putea sustrage unei înalte stări de bine de la prima pagină până la sfârșitul inevitabil.“ — New York Journal of Books Perestroika, sau Paras, pentru cei care ajung să o cunoască mai bine, este numele pe care i l-au dat oamenii, căci oamenii, după cum ea însăși o spune, nu se prea pricep să recunoască un cal, în tot cazul nu așa cum se recunosc caii între ei. Nici chiar atunci când vine vorba despre un cal de curse ca ea, premiat și îndrăgit. Inocentă, ar putea-o descrie noii ei prieteni din Paris – Frida, bracul german care o învață regulile traiului pe străzile Orașului Luminilor, Raoul, corbul mândru și sfătos, cu un pedigree cel puțin la fel de lustruit ca al lui Paras, sau cuplul gălăgios de rațe Sid și Nancy –, plină de nerv și isteață, ar eticheta-o antrenorii. Poate că toate acestea laolaltă au făcut-o să părăsească hipodromul și să pornească într-o aventură prin Paris, o aventură care celebrează curiozitatea, ingenuitatea și dorința oricărei făpturi de a trăi în libertate și în armonie cu lumea.

When Abby Lovitt gets to work at her family''s ranch, she can hardly believe her luck. True Blue is a beauty, a dapple grey, and he needs a new home - his owner was tragically killed in a car crash, and no one has claimed him. Her father is wary, as always. But Abby is smitten. True Blue is a sweetheart, and whenever Abby calls out, "Blue, Blue, how are you?" he whinnies back. But sometimes True Blue seems, well . . . spooked. He paces, and always seems to be looking for something. Or someone. Abby starts to wonder about True Blue''s owner. What was she like? What did she look like? And what are the strange whispers Abby sometimes hears when she''s with him?

Lidie Harkness, vingt ans, s''ennuie à Quincy, Illinois. Thomas Newton, la trentaine, a toutes les qualités et une passion : la lutte contre l''esclavage. Contrairement à Lidie qui n''a pas d''opinion sur la question, il est un fervent partisan de l''abolition. Nous sommes en 1855. La guerre de Sécession n''a pas encore déchiré les Etats-Unis d''Amérique. Les deux jeunes gens, après s''être mariés, remontent le Mississippi et s''enfoncent dans les terres sauvages de l''ouest... Un western haletant, qui est pour Jane Smiley prétexte à poser deux questions contemporaines celle de l''engagement politique, celle du lien entre liberté et responsabilité.

Cuando Dave escucha a su esposa Dana musitar "Nunca ms̀ volver ̌a ser feliz", quiz ̀sin haberse dado cuenta siquiera de que lo deca̕ en voz alta, siente que ambos estǹ a punto de perder todo aquello que una vez desearon: sus aǫs de apacible matrimonio, tres hijas, la prs̤pera cln̕ica dental que comparten. Ahora Dave est ̀convencido de que Dana se ha enamorado de otro hombre y, de manera inesperada, decide que la mejor manera de salvar su relacin̤ es evitar que su esposa descubra que ľ lo sabe.

Le terme "saga" (d''origine scandinave) est tout à fait d''usage pour décrire cette magnifique épopée norvégienne du 14e siècle dont les événements sont racontés avec fougue et enthousiasme en ce vaste récit bien documenté.