Kirjahaku

Helen and Brenda presents two hilarious novels in one volume. Each is complete and unabridged. Helen of Pepper Pike: Suburban Cleveland housewife Helen Spall has three difficult kids and a tax-attorney husband who's inclined to be brutally frank about her shortcomings. Then she inherits a rundown house in a blue-collar town on the shores of Lake Erie, and her life begins to blossom. She investigates a once-popular, now forgotten novelist and her mysterious connections to Helen's family. With her marriage dissolving and a possible new love in her life, Helen encounters surprise after surprise as she uncovers the many secrets that lay buried in those seductive novels. The captivating story, written in diary form, will have you laughing out loud as you accompany Helen on her journey of discovery and renewal. Brenda the Great: Plain, overweight and friendless, 16-year-old Brenda Blatt is exiled by her parents to bleak Ferncliffe Academy, a school for troubled girls. Despised by her new roommates and scorned by the headmistress, Brenda suddenly finds her life turning around when she is befriended by the prettiest girl in the school. She experiments with dating and discovers she has a first-class singing voice. Brenda is becoming an admired leader at the school, when an apparent double betrayal sends her reeling. Will Brenda find in herself the strength to overcome this crisis? Will she continue with her singing? And which of her musical partners will win her heart? Amid the hilarity, this rollicking novel explores the nature and power of friendship, and the role of physical attractiveness in the lives of young people.

This dark comic tale has it all: drinking, smoking, adultery, murder, suicide, cats, donuts, and lots of zany poetry. The man in charge is R. Daniel Nixon (first name Richard), a tall, bald poet who can't seem to get a break: not from life or from the women he pursues. Join Danny in his quest to prove that poetry (and poets) can be bold, sexy, and vastly entertaining.

A house on the beach at Santa Monica was the residence for many years of two famous film stars: Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. Fan magazines of the period showed them in apparent domestic bliss: doing the dishes, raiding the fridge, enjoying an evening by the fire, larking in their pool. No, these stars weren't married. Such a union barely was conceived of at the time. They were two handsome bachelors "saving on rent" by living together. Or so the movie-going public was led to believe. Part fact, part fiction, and based on extensive research, this new play speculates on what might have gone on in that posh ocean-side house. Only the residents themselves knew what actually transpired there. Rumors at the time linked them romantically with many celebrities--of both sexes. It seems that everyone who knew them had their own opinions about who was doing what with whom. Yet the two men and their families always insisted that they were merely "good friends." This funny and moving two-act play presents a fresh perspective on one of Hollywood's most tantalizing mysteries. It requires one set and a minimum of five actors.