Backwater (r/i)
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Black Sheep
  • Backwater
  • Backwater
  • Backwater
  • Backwater
Backwater (r/i)
Joan Bauer
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0142404349

Amazon.com

There are two things you can count on in a book by Joan Bauer. One, it will make you laugh. And two, the girl who is telling the story will be really good at something, but not something you'd expect. In Squashed, Ellie wins the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-In. In Rules of the Road, which won the Golden Kite Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction, Jenna Boller is a whiz at selling shoes. In Backwater, Ivy Breedlove resists being good at the family tradition. For many generations the Breedloves have been successful lawyers. Among her loud and argumentative relatives, however, Ivy feels like "a goldfish swimming in a tank stocked with snapping turtles--it's hard to keep a lasting presence." Instead, Ivy is in love with history, especially the family history she is compiling. But a large piece is missing. Many years ago, her father's sister Josephine went away to be a hermit in the mountains, and ever since, the rest of the family has referred to her scornfully as "stuck in the backwater." Ivy, convinced that this "different" aunt holds the secret to her own differentness, sets out in a snowstorm to find Jo, with the help of backslapping, slogan-spouting wilderness guide Mountain Mama. Along the way she meets with a lot more adventure and understanding than she ever anticipated--not to mention snagging an excellent boyfriend. (Ages 12 to 16) --Patty Campbell

Book Description

Stuck in a family overflowing with lawyers, Ivy Breedlove longs to be understood, to break free of unfair expectations, and to find the truth about the mysterious hermit aunt who broke the family mold-the relative no one will talk about. With an outrageous mountain guide leading the way, Ivy sets out on the journey of a lifetime to find the missing link in the Breedlove family. But is she too late?

"This warm, funny, patchwork quilt of a sturdy heroine, vivid characters, a touch of romance, and a final survival adventure...."-Booklist

"Rich with engaging characters... and dramatic tension in a well-paced plot, this is another great read from Bauer."--School Library Journal

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Black Sheep.......2007-05-31

Ivy's entire huge extended family seems to be made up of loud lawyers. Her father and her uncle and, it seems, everyone else of any importance in the Breedlove clan, are lawyers. Ivy often feels out of place; she doesn't want to be a lawyer. She doesn't like to shout or argue, and she certainly doesn't feel like going to law school, despite the brochures her father keeps leaving around in her room.

Ivy wants to be a historian. She is very interested in most types of history and enjoys especially knowing where she came from. Her great aunt started researching their family history years ago, but then she rapidly began losing her eyesight. She turned the project over to Ivy. Now with her great aunt's eightieth birthday celebration approaching, Ivy is eager to get the project done and to prove to her aunt Fiona that having a written book is just as important, and maybe even more important, than the video Fiona is putting together.

But there is a crucial part of the Breedlove family history that is missing--Ivy's aunt Josephine. No one in the family has seen her or had any communication with her for years. She had always been sort of strange, according to Ivy's father, and as an adult she went way up into the mountains near their family home to live by herself. Now it has become important for Ivy to find her and talk to her. So she hires a wilderness guide to lead her through the wintery trails to her aunt's place on the mountain.

This story was similar to Bauer's other stories, but each of her tales has a unique twist and very strong and likable characters. The narrator was talented and thoughtful, and Josephine was always true to herself. The rest of the Breedlove family, although loud and aggressive, were still a pretty close-knit group. This was a good story about the pressure faced by the black sheep of a family.

3 out of 5 stars Backwater.......2007-03-23

Backwater, by Joan Bauer was a good book. This book was about a young teenager, Ivy Breedlove, who was trying to find out about her family history. She wanted to be different from her family of lawyers, and when her family found out, they said she was like her Aunt Joesphine. Joesphine is a character who didnt care about what anyone thought of her, she also did not want to become a lawyer, and she ended up living in the mountains all alone, in her cabin with the birds.

3 out of 5 stars Backwater.......2007-03-23

This book is really good. I like this book because its about real life things and its about a girl going to see her Aunt that has went up to the mountain to get away from her problems. Her Aunt ends up making her own little town called Backwater. Her Aunt is mayor Backwater whitch is a town with birds all around it there is a bird house and a bird hospital in the town. But the end is really good. The end is a tree falls on the house that her aunt lives in, and breaks her Aunts leg so Ivy has to put her Aunt on a sled,and bring her the ranger house for her Aunt while shes going over a frozen pond.Read it its really good!

4 out of 5 stars Backwater .......2007-03-23

I like this book because i like adventure things. I like to search for new things. I would love to meet my family members that i have never seen or heard about. I always strive for what i want, kinda like Ivy did to find her aunt. I can relate to Ivy. If i ever found one of my aunts in the woods i would ask/want her to come back home to stay with the family. I personaly love the outdoors. I like to hear the birds cherping and all the natural sounds. I like birds, kinda like her aunt Josephine.

3 out of 5 stars Backwater.......2007-03-23

This is a good book for kids that like a adventure and excitement. Evy has to find is long lost aunt before her grandmas birthday. Now she has help and wants to write a report on her family';s history. Her family is a long line of lawyers, but Evy doesn't want to be a lawer sh wants to be a social worker like her mother was. She wants to help people. So if you want to find out if her anut is dead or alive I would suggest reading this book. This was a really good book! It is well written and it has a lot of details and you will enjoy this book.
Backwater War: The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45 (Stackpole Military History)
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • The Costly Mediterranean Diversion
  • Contends that the Normandy campaign was unduly costly
Backwater War: The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45 (Stackpole Military History)
Edwin Palmer Hoyt
Manufacturer: Stackpole Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

GeneralGeneral | Military | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0811733823

Book Description

A year before the much-heralded second front was opened in Normandy in 1944, the Allies waged a campaign in Sicily and Italy--an assault that was marked by intra-Allied argument and dissent from beginning to end. This is the story of the "backwater war" that resulted: a fierce, drawn-out campaign that began with the invasion of Sicily, continued with the landings at Salerno and Anzio in Italy, and included the controversial bombing of Monte Cassino.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars The Costly Mediterranean Diversion.......2003-02-14

Mr.Hoyt's book is a welcome and needed history of the conflict in Italy. Discussion of the motives,tactics,and deployment are thourough. What is of great interest to me is the enormous amount of discord regarding this operation among the allies-- Churchill was for it, Ike was at best lukewarm, the british generals wanted to run it as did the americans. Ultimately, the allies proceeded with it because of Italy's collapse and the perception of an easy victory, plus the inability to open a front in the west in 1943. What occured, unfortunately, was a very long war of attrition against a worthy opponent -- Field Marshall Kesselring and some of the better components of the wehrmacht. The germans were able to contain the allies in superb defensive positions at Cassino and also at Anzio, where inadequate numbers and lackluster leadership led to bloody stalemate. Despite winning the war elsewhere, Italy was indeed the "backwater" of the war with more troops and munitions going to the war in the west as well as public attention--the capture of Rome becoming a historical footnote on the day before D-day. General Clark's portrayal as a glory hound and someone more than willing to use his soldiers in the pursuit of this[Rapido River is a good, but not the only example ] is evident in this book. The campaign remained costly in human lives and suffering for objectives increasingly of questionable strategic value until the end of the war. It would appear in retrospect the campaign was the product of misguided British ambition and American indecision and naievity, a quagmire that once entered, they could not extricate themselves from. In addition, one has to wonder if the men and material expended could not have been used more judisciously elsewhere in the ETO. That is what I think Mr. Hoyt conveyed in this landmark work on the war in Italy. It should be in every military historians' armamentarium without a doubt. I might add that the individual heroism of american and other allied soldiers is not questioned - quite the contrary - only their use by allied leaders in Italy.

5 out of 5 stars Contends that the Normandy campaign was unduly costly.......2002-11-07

Backwater War: The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-1945 by independent historian and author Edwin P. Hoyt is a meticulous and exacting survey and analysis of the campaign waged by Allied forces in Sicily and Italy. Combining extensive detail and military theory, Hoyt forcefully contends that the Normandy campaign was both unduly costly and ultimately unnecessary, and that in the final analysis it lengthened an already devastating war. An intriguing analysis, Backwater War is an impressive and welcome contribution to personal reading lists and Military History collections.
Fly Rodding Estuaries: How to Fish Salt Ponds, Coastal Creeks, and Backwaters
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Reference on Estuaries, but a bit redundant with prior works
  • Fly Rodding Estuaries
Fly Rodding Estuaries: How to Fish Salt Ponds, Coastal Creeks, and Backwaters
Ed Mitchell
Manufacturer: Stackpole Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0811728072

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Reference on Estuaries, but a bit redundant with prior works.......2004-08-28

A fine refrence text on the topic and written in Mitchell's typical style (Trout fisherman transitioning to Salt - as most of us are/were). If, however, you own his other works, it will be somewhat redundant, but worth owning.

4 out of 5 stars Fly Rodding Estuaries.......2003-12-12

Fly Rodding Estuaries is Ed Mitchell's third book and represents a more detailed extension of some of the same topics from his previous work. Thus, if you own either or both of these other fine volumes, ESTUARIES will probably not tell you a lot you do not already know. However, if you are a flyrodder who strives to constantly push your level of expertise, this is not a bad place to go.

The book begins with a definition of estuaries and then discusses various conditions one can expect to encounter and what these mean for the fishing. Variables include tidal range and times, salinity, currents etc and these are important in sorting through otherwise "big empty bodies of water." The book then goes on to break down estuarine bodies of water into several types including salt ponds, lagoon, inlets, bays and coves, tidal creeks and marshes. There are also chapters on getting around in these environments, thoughts on tackle, flies and techniques.

The book is 148 pps long and is attractivley and durably printed on heavy gloss stock. All graphics are in color and add a lot to the otherwise fine content. While the concepts involved are applicable to all estuarine environments, the author's considerable experience in the Northeast, particularly Connecticut and Rhode Island is apparent. It is not however, a "where to go" book, but is instead focused on water types and techniques.

Overall, this book is well worth acquiring. The information is sound and generally well presented. I personally would have liked a little more on nightime approaches and worm hatches, although these are both covered. These are minor points however. Everyone can learn something from this book and the process is an enjoyable one at that.
Bayou Backwaters
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Bayou Backwaters
    Eckert
    Manufacturer: DoubleDay
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Library Binding
    ASIN: 0385011016
    Backwaters of Global Prosperity: How Forces of Globalization and GATT/WTO Trade Regimes Contribute to the Marginalization of the World's Poorest Nations
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Backwaters of Global Prosperity: How Forces of Globalization and GATT/WTO Trade Regimes Contribute to the Marginalization of the World's Poorest Nations
      Caf Dowlah
      Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover

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      ASIN: 027598043X

      Book Description

      From direct foreign investment to the flow of capital, there are endless factors that affect the economies of the world's poorest countries. Knowledge of the struggles of these countries--also known as the Least Developed Countries (LDCs)--is essential to understanding the impact of globalization. This work provides a platform for grasping why developed countries are reaping the benefits of globalization while the LDCs are being left behind. Topical chapters seek to uncover the processes that LDCs should take to reverse their marginalization and build their economies so that they can receive the benefits of globalization. Subjects include: *The relationship between the World Trade Organization, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund *Multilateral trade regimes *Tariff and non-tariff barriers in developed countries *Global Commodity Prices *Trends in Poverty and Human Development *Technology
      Backwater Graybeard twilight: Being nonbeing becoming
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • A truly unique poetry voice
      Backwater Graybeard twilight: Being nonbeing becoming
      T. Kilgore Splake
      Manufacturer: Thunder Sandwich Pub
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Unknown Binding

      United StatesUnited States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
      ASIN: 0971894809

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars A truly unique poetry voice.......2006-12-30

      As you will read below, Charles and t. have embibed a beverage together.

      Thomas Hugh Smith was 44 years old when he wrote his first poem in 1979. Now known as t. kilgore splake, he has become one of the small press icons. His work and name appear everywhere. The self-proclaimed "graybeard dancer" told me, "Early one l979 morning while nursing a modest hangover and drinking a cup of coffee brewed from the coals of the previous night's campfire, I felt compelled to write my thoughts about the past several days living in the pictured rocks wilderness outback. I collected several additional poems over my summer of camping, and upon returning to Battle Creek after Labor Day, they were published in my first chapbook edition titled pictured rocks poetry."

      Until that day Splake had never written poetry, "I taught political science at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, Michigan, for twenty-six years. I lectured on the dynamics of a federal system of government and outlined the characteristics and functions of the American political party system. However, outside the world of academia, my job status was at best anonymous. If I was in with a strange group of people and asked what I did for a living, I might as well have replied I was a brain surgeon for the understanding most people have of what is political science. Now, I declare myself a poet, and it still seems I am anonymous to the average individual."

      Backwater Graybeard Twilight is the magnum opus of Splake's work. It is a comprehensive collection of both his word and photo art. The 150 pages devoted to his writing are dense and word filled; word overflowing, words everywhere; for Splake puts to paper what comes to his mind in what he calls stream of consciousness prose. I asked him about this and he told me, "What initially attracted me to poetry, and later writing stream of consciousness prose, was the absence of necessary writing rules. In a doing contest with the ever elusive damn-dame lady muse, I seize a passion and redline it. I still compose my writing works in long hand, scribbling between the lines of quill econo legal padlets. With the rough long hand drafts, I then key a poem or a story into a word document and turn to the fine-tuning the writing into the best shape possible."

      One of the characteristics of the writing in Backwater Graybeard Twilight is its sheer volume. I often felt like I was drowning in a tidal wave of images and metaphors. This machine gunning of words often left me feeling lost and falling; not an altogether unpleasant experience, but even numinous falling needs nuance and direction lest we shut down the sponge in our head that reads and absorbs.

      I asked Splake about this volume of words and whether themes get lost in the word pile. He sort of answered my question, "I believe in a pizza theory of poetry. Imagine being on a date and discussing what kind of a pizza to order. If I might suggest a pizza with anchovies, my feminine acquaintance might reply, "Ugh, I can't stand those slimy little fish." Where if she would suggest a pineapple pizza, I would not find pineapple agreeable to my culinary palette. Yet neither anchovies nor pineapple are bad, they simple represent a difference in individual tastes. I think the same analogy holds true for poetry. There are no good or bad poems, and what is good in poetry simply appeals to one's aesthetic sensibilities. I can, and do not believe that the poems and stories I write will be liked by all those who read them. An anchovy lover will not win over a pineapple devotee."

      I can't argue that all art is loved by someone and finds a home, but does poetry lose its power (brevity) when it becomes overloaded? I think it does, but this does not diminish Splake's achievement or skill in accomplishing it, it just means his audience will be filled anchovy lovers who welcome his form of word art.

      Backwater Graybeard Twilight is broken into titled, Being, NonBeing and Becoming - I was most drawn to Becoming (can I say the pineapple section) where Splake delivers more then a few poems I could read, digest, inhale.
      Splake's gift is his facility with image, his challenge maybe mitigating the blinding speed with which he lets these images fall to his paper.

      I asked Jim Chandler, whose Thunder Sandwich Publishing published Backwater Graybeard Twilight what drew him to Splake's work and he told me "I believe Splake is unique because his style is unlike that of anyone I'm familiar with. I suspect that most people who have read any Splake could pick his work out of poems by 10 (or 20 or 100) poets by reading a line or two. I know I can. The talent obviously speaks for itself, since one doesn't bother to interview untalented people. Splake is the most dedicated writer I know; perhaps driven is a better word. He sets goals and he doesn't rest until he achieves them. "

      Indeed, he is a Type-A poet if ever there was one; a volcano of productivity. In an interview conducted by Peter Magliocco of ART:MAG Splake describes himself as a proverbial over-achiever who TRIES HARDER and I would agree. I asked him if, as he nears his 70th birthday, if he has enough time to get it all done and he told me, " NO! I do not have enough time in the working day to bring my attention to all of the works that I currently have in progress. What I call "rat time" has truly become my primary adversary. I often hear some of the truly geezer gents at the evergreen café sigh over their coffee mornings and whisper "what am I going to do today." I feel, how sad I cannot allocate a couple of their unused hours, and possess twenty-six for a day's lit-laborings. It is obvious they would not miss them."

      Splake has published over 70 chap books of poetry and if that weren't enough, he is also an excellent photographer. Backwater Graybeard Twilight has over forty pages of his photos, and these are exceptional. His subjects are common and clear. They are lit on the page and easy to assimilate. I asked him if he had to choose poetry or photography, what would it be? In characteristic Splake fashion he didn't exactly answer my question, but rather the associations my question prompted in his mind, "At present I am moving away from writing poetry and short stories and into the field of movie making. However, note, I am not abandoning poetry, but incorporating a poetry on human "being" into the camera footage that I work with. To date I have produced three DVD movie-length productions: "Splake poetry on location i," "Splake poetry on location ii," and the most recent film creation "Splake: the cliffs." In regards to my filming perspectives, I have been greatly influenced by the work of Jim Jarmusch, and particularly his early movie "Permanent Vacation." I have also learned a great deal of cinematography from the works of Richard Linklater. His experimental movie which is part of the criterion film package for the movie "Slacker," has had a strong effect on my movie making attitudes." Can you hear a man sprinting toward his art? I can.

      In less then 20 years Splake has created a lifetime body of work. I asked him about his legacy, "If I flatter myself, I think that t. kilgore splake writings and photographs "might" still be remembered l0 days to a possible full two weeks after I pass on to that "quiet darkness of nothing." However, I still continue to post my work and daily correspondence to Marcus C. Robyns, archivist for Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. I do entertain the remote possibility that I possess an Upper Peninsula artistic consciousness and regional identity. So, maybe some future NMU literature or writing students will study the works of Splake. I would like that."

      Jim Chandler is right. Here is a unique voice, talent and personality. Splake is a small press original. While anchovies are not for everyone, even a pineapple lover like me can see the glory in an anchovy. I strongly encourage you to add Backwater Graybeard Twilight to your library.
      Backwater
      Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
      • Good reading here
      • Good reading here
      Backwater
      Morris L. Striplin
      Manufacturer: Crystal Dreams Publishing
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

      ContemporaryContemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
      ASIN: 1591460050

      Product Description

      Josh Wagner became the pride of Backwater even before his was born. His ancestors had helped settle Southeastern Louisiana. And his great-great-grandfather had been granted the first license to practice law in the state. As a result, his name had been mentioned in court records for over a hundred years. True to form, and as predicted by his father who himself had become one of Backwater's most respected and wealthy attorneys, he begins to live up to his advanced billing by the time he graduates from high school by his popularity and prowess on the football field. Much to everyone's surprise, he leaves for college without having a serious relationship with a single member of the opposite sex. A weekend visit home from college brings a chance meeting with an old high school acquaintance, Ellen Pike, who was his equal in every way, but without all the social advantages that money can bring. Searching for something to say, he asks her to join him for a weekend in New Orleans. Much too both their surprise, she accepts. During a wildly wonderful weekend in the Crescent City, they both recognize that they have finally found what they have so desperately searched for in each other. Before the weekend is through, they decide to commemorate the visit with a special tattoo placed in such a way that it would forever remain a secret between the two of them. After several weekend visits, the father learns of the relationship and disapproves. When he becomes perplexed over the situation, his oldest and dearest friend comes up with a sensible strategy and they approach the young woman with a compromise. Then without warning, Ellen disappears. Each and every avenue Josh pursues in an attempt to locate her, only leads to a dead end. He is finally forced to believe Ellen has indeed left of her own free will and never wants to see him again which serves to force him into a deep state of depression. To help him get out of his depressed state, his mother plans a huge party at the family mansion. All his friends are invited, including his best friend's sister who is secretly pregnant. Since the father of her child refuses to marry her and wants her to have an abortion, which she absolutely refuses to do, she discovers Josh in an advanced state of inebriation. She uses his helpless condition to take him away from the celebration, and then maneuvers him into thinking that she is pregnant with his child. Obsessed with responsibility, even though he cannot clearly remember the exact details of the conception, they marry. When the two beautiful, identical twin daughters are born, he claims them for him own. And from that moment on, the three of them develop a very special relationship even though his marriage is far from ideal. After enduring many years of a loveless marriage, primarily held together by his infinite love of the twins, he eventually discovers his wife in bed with the true father of the twins he thought to be his own. Finally learning the awful truth, they immediately divorce. Following their divorce, he forces his former wife, very much against her will, to tell the twin girls the truth of their parentage. Even after learning the truth, they still prefer to think of Josh as their father. Upon receiving their mother's permission, they move back home with Josh. When that happens, their special relationship and their lives become normal once again. The twins make a new friend at school who will become almost a part of their family, and will inadvertently solve the mystery of Ellen's disappearance by the discovery of the tattoo Josh received many years before. That will bring forth-another secret, bringing the story to a happy ending.

      Customer Reviews:

      4 out of 5 stars Good reading here.......2004-04-30

      Young Josh Wagner and Ellen Lebouef had been totally in love. After a few romantic days in New Orleans, they decided to get a tattoo on their upper, inner thigh so they would always remember it. Josh's family had money and Ellen's did not. Ellen had hopes of going to nursing school someday though and making something of herself. Josh was in college and would follow his father's footsteps. The two planned to marry someday soon. However, Josh's father, Matt, took it upon himself to step in. Matt did not care for Ellen's family, even though Ellen was a perfect young lady. Believing he was doing something his son would thank him for someday, Matt and his best friend, Jim Coriell, interfered.

      When Josh learned that Ellen had disappeared and did not want Josh to know why or where she went, he immediately confronted his father. But Matt and Jim convinced Josh that they had nothing to do with it. Heartbroken, Josh entered the willing arms of Jim's daughter, Kristin. When they wed, Matt and Jim were thrilled! The two best friends and business partners were now brother-in-laws. Better still, Josh's best friend was Blake who was Kristin's brother. So those two best friends also became brothers! (Sounds like a juicy soap opera doesn't it?)

      Now to make the plot even better. Only Kristin and her mother knew the deep secret concerning the twins. Kristin had purposely let Josh think she was pregnant by him, thus the marriage. However, someone else fathered the twin girls. That secret would hold until the girls were almost adults. From there on, things get even more interesting! Do not think that Ellen is out of the picture for good and expect quite a few more surprises. But that is all the synopsis that I dare give.

      **** Author Morris L. Striplin has done and excellent job in creating a fascinating story set in Backwater, Louisiana. Men, do not go thinking this is soap opera junk. It just has a lot of twists and turns like a good soap or drama movie has. But no rednecks, no kissing cousins, no JUNK. Both men and women will LOVE this tale. The ending is especially satisfying! Morris L. Striplin has made a fan with me and I look forward to his next stunning release. ****

      Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

      4 out of 5 stars Good reading here.......2004-04-30

      Young Josh Wagner and Ellen Lebouef had been totally in love. After a few romantic days in New Orleans, they decided to get a tattoo on their upper, inner thigh so they would always remember it. Josh's family had money and Ellen's did not. Ellen had hopes of going to nursing school someday though and making something of herself. Josh was in college and would follow his father's footsteps. The two planned to marry someday soon. However, Josh's father, Matt, took it upon himself to step in. Matt did not care for Ellen's family, even though Ellen was a perfect young lady. Believing he was doing something his son would thank him for someday, Matt and his best friend, Jim Coriell, interfered.

      When Josh learned that Ellen had disappeared and did not want Josh to know why or where she went, he immediately confronted his father. But Matt and Jim convinced Josh that they had nothing to do with it. Heartbroken, Josh entered the willing arms of Jim's daughter, Kristin. When they wed, Matt and Jim were thrilled! The two best friends and business partners were now brother-in-laws. Better still, Josh's best friend was Blake who was Kristin's brother. So those two best friends also became brothers! (Sounds like a juicy soap opera doesn't it?)

      Now to make the plot even better. Only Kristin and her mother knew the deep secret concerning the twins. Kristin had purposely let Josh think she was pregnant by him, thus the marriage. However, someone else fathered the twin girls. That secret would hold until the girls were almost adults. From there on, things get even more interesting! Do not think that Ellen is out of the picture for good and expect quite a few more surprises. But that is all the synopsis that I dare give.

      **** Author Morris L. Striplin has done and excellent job in creating a fascinating story set in Backwater, Louisiana. Men, do not go thinking this is soap opera junk. It just has a lot of twists and turns like a good soap or drama movie has. But no rednecks, no kissing cousins, no JUNK. Both men and women will LOVE this tale. The ending is especially satisfying! Morris L. Striplin has made a fan with me and I look forward to his next stunning release. ****

      Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
      Backwater
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        Backwater
        Richard Digance
        Manufacturer: Michael Joseph
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Paperback

        ContemporaryContemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
        ASIN: 0718121031
        Backwater
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Backwater
          Dorothy Richardson
          Manufacturer: Domville -Fife Press
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback
          ASIN: 1406717312

          Book Description

          BACKWATER BY DOROTHY M. RICHARDSON BACKWATER CHAPTER I A SWARTHY turbaned face shone at Miriam from a tapestry screen standing between her and the ferns rising from a basket framework in the bow of the window. Consulting it at intervals as the afternoon wore on, she found that it made very light of the quiet propositions that were being elaborated within hearing of her inattentive ears. Looking beyond it she could catch glimpses between the crowded fernery, when a tram was not jingling by, of a close-set palisade just across the roadway and beyond the palisade of a green level ending at a row of Spanish poplars. The trams seemed very near and noisy. When they passed by the window, the speakers had to raise their voices. Otherwise the little drawing-room was very quiet, with a strange old-fashioned quietness. It was full of old things, like the Gobelin screen, and old thoughts like the thoughts of the ladies who were sitting and talking there. She and her mother had seemed quite modern, fussy, worldly people when they had first come into the room. From the moment the three ladies had come in and begun talking to her mother, the things in the room, and the view of the distant row of poplars had grown more and more peaceful, and now at the end of an hour she felt that she, and to some extent Mrs. Henderson too, belonged to the old-world room with its quiet green outlook shut in by the poplars. Only the trams were disturbing. They came busily by, with their strange jingle-jingle, plock-plock, and made her inattentive. Why were there so many people coming by in trams Where were they going Why were all the trams painted that blue hard, dingy The sisters talked quietly, outlining their needs in smooth gentle voices, in small broken phrases, frequently interrupting and correcting each other. Miriam heard dreamily that they wanted help with the lower school, the children from six to eight years of age, in the mornings and afternoons, and in the evenings a general superintendence of the four boarders. They kept on saying that the work was very easy and simple there were no naughty girls hardly a single naughty girl in the school there should be no difficult superintendence, no exercise of authority would be required. By the time they had reached the statement of these modifications Miriam felt that she knew them quite well. The shortest, who did most of the talking and who had twinkling eyes and crooked pince-nez and soft reddish cheeks and a little red-tipped nose, and whose small coil of sheeny grey hair was pinned askew on the top of her head stray loops standing out at curious angles was Miss Jenny, the middle one. The very tall one sitting opposite her, with a delicate wrinkled creamy face and coal-black eyes and a peak of ringletted smooth coal-black hair, was the eldest, Miss Deborah. The other sister, much younger, with neat smooth green-grey hair and a long sad greyish face and faded eyes, was Miss Haddie. They were all three dressed in thin fine black material and had tiny hands and little softly moving feet. What did they think of the trams Do you think you could manage it, chickie said Mrs, Henderson suddenly. I think I could. No doubt, my dear, oh, no doubt, said Miss as she Jenny with a little sound of laughter tapped her knee with the pince-nez she had plucked from their rakish perch on the reddened bridge of her nose. I dont think I could teach Scripture. An outbreak of incoherent little sounds and statements from all three taught her that Miss DSborah took the Bible classes of the whole school. How old is Miriam Just eighteen. She has put up her hair to- day. Oh, poor child, she need not have done that. She is a born teacher. She used to hold little classes amongst her schoolfellows when she was only eight years old...
          Backwater - Oflag IX A/H
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Backwater - Oflag IX A/H
            D. Guy Adams
            Manufacturer: Frederick Muller limited
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover
            ASIN: B000TXTHDE

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