"12-12-12" is the story of a great nation falling apart and one young man's quest for meaning in the midst of chaos. It takes the stuff of reality and pitches it to a high scream. Open your mind but cover your ears. Knowledge is bliss but it's loud and painful. Yet somehow still funny. "12-12-12" manages to tell it like it is by telling it like it isn't. Granted, this is not what actually happened during 2012. But what unfolds is not more implausible. Nor is it less implausible. It's dark, ironic, witty, at times surrealistic and just plain weird. One reviewer calls it "laugh-out-loud brain food for hungry minds."
Originally published in 1987. Lady Rachel Russell (1637–1723) was regarded as "one of the best women" by many of the most powerful people of her time. Wife of Lord William Russell, the prominent Whig opponent of King Charles II who was executed for treason in 1683, Lady Russell emerged as a political figure in her own right during the Glorious Revolution and throughout her forty-year widowhood. Award-winning historian Lois G. Schwoerer has written a biography that illuminates both the political life and the lives of women in late Stuart England. Lady Russell's interest in politics and religion blossomed during her marriage to Lord Russell and after his death: "as William became a Whig martyr, Rachel became a Whig saint." Her wealth, contacts, and role as her husband's surrogate gave her considerable influence to intercede in high government appointments, lend support in elections, and exchange favors with her friend Mary of Orange. In her domestic life she similarly took steps usually reserved to men, managing large estates in London and Hampshire and negotiating favorable marriage contracts for each of her three children. Although Lady Russell was unusual for her time, she was by no means unique. Other notable women shared her concerns and traits, although to differing degrees and effects. Schwoerer suggests that the horizons of women's lives in the seventeenth century may have extended farther than is often supposed.
Having lost her parents at a young age, Rachel moves in with her aunt and uncle. She is raised in a loving home and should have been happy but she felt something was missing in her life. While visiting a nearby town she happens to discover the parents she buried and grieved for were not her real parents. She had been adopted at birth. She begins to question everything in her life and feels betrayed by those she loves.Rachel had been dating Joe for a few months and she's reluctant to allow a relationship to build. How can she open her heart to him when she's lost faith in all she's known.
**AUTHOR NOTE** This book contains difficult topics that may be hard for some readers and is suggested for a mature audience only. It contains strong language, sexual situations, abuse, and other content that may be problematic for some to read. Please keep this in mind when choosing to read this book. Rachel has always been seen as a wild child, never committing or settling down. She wants it that way, so that no one ever finds out the truth. Deep down, she is crushed over something that happened years ago that resulted in losing the only man she ever loved. Then she meets someone who tries to convince her that she's ready to commit again. But some things are not what they seem. Realizing too late that she's in over her head, and with her life on the line, she comes face to face with her past in a way she never thought possible.Devin was in love once, and it destroyed him, making him swear off love forever. After a promotion and subsequent move unexpectedly brings him into the middle of her dangerous situation, he must come face to face with his past and to the woman who broke him into pieces. But she needs help. Desperately. And maybe, just maybe, he didn't know the real truth of their past. Can he help her survive the terrible ordeal she's been through, and during it all, can he safeguard his heart from her? Or will the truth of the pain that has kept them apart show him that he can't live without her after all?
