A detailed account of Coretta Scott King's upbringing in a family of proud, land-owning African Americans with a devotion to the ideals of social equality and the values of education, as well as her later role as her husband's most trusted confidant and advisor.

Pulitzer Prize–winner Larry McMurtry writes novels set in the American heartland, but his real territory is the heart itself. His gift for writing about women—their love for reckless, hopeless men; their ability to see the good in losers; and their peculiar combination of emotional strength and sudden weakness—makes The Desert Rose the bittersweet, funny, and touching book that it is. Harmony is a Las Vegas showgirl with the best legs in town. At night she's a lead dancer in a gambling casino; during the day she raises peacocks. She throws her love away on second-rate men, but wakes up in the morning full of hope. She's one of a dying breed of dancers, faced with fewer and fewer jobs and an even bleaker future. Yet, she maintains a calm cheerfulness in that arid neon landscape of supermarkets, drive-in wedding chapels, and all-night casinos. While Harmony's star is fading, her beautiful, cynical daughter Pepper's is on the rise. But Harmony remains wistful and optimistic through it all. She is the unexpected blossom in the wasteland, the tough and tender desert rose. Hers is a loving portrait that only Larry McMurtry could render.

This poignant book about a young woman's experiences during China's Cultural Revolution is in a same genre as the popular local book Tears of the Moon as well as international bestsellers like Wild Swans and Falling Leaves. Weijun Collins was born in China into a prominent and well-educated family. When she was just ten years old her father, once a high-ranking official, was condemned as an enemy of the Communist Party and banished to a labour camp. Weijun struggled to continue her education but her father's 'crime' eventually rebounded on her and she was sent to the Gobi desert for ten years of terrible hardship and misery. laboured in sub-zero temperatures - a virtual slave. Against this background of terrible hardship Weijun managed to teach herself English and eventually escaped from the desert to become a teacher. Her story is layered with a number of romantic episodes: she has a brief unsuccessful marriage to a childhood sweetheart; and a scandalous and ultimately damaging love affair with a much younger man. Weijun was eventually assisted to New Zealand and has begun a new, much happier life. This book gives the reader real insight into the daily lives of ordinary people during this terrible period in China's history.

Jack Halliday struck it rich in the 1860 silver boom in Virginia City! As Annalee and her mother travel to join him in Nevada, their joy turns to ashes. They're unprepared for the savage mountain winter that traps them in a desperate struggle for survival. At this critical moment, lawman Brett Wilder arrives in town. He's looking for the gunslinger who crippled his father—and he suspects Jack. When Annalee and Brett meet as they each search for Jack, they must face what they believe about the sovereignty of God, justice, and mercy. They also must discover whether their growing love for one another will melt like snow into an icy mountain stream or bloom like a rose in the desert.

Be enchanted by the Desert Rose, learn how to successfully grow them in your garden.

When Will, a young gay gender-fluid artist is abandoned by the one person he cares most about in the world, he's left desperate and broken, with nowhere to turn. All he has is the phone number of a man who once purchased a few of his paintings and had propositioned him with the opportunity of a lifetime. A year later, Will feels confident, sexy, and desperately in love with Dorian, the owner of New Orleans' underground gay brothel; Desert Rose. The money is good, the sex is better, and every day is a party, until Will realizes things are not what they seem. Every day then becomes a battle between obligation, love, true happiness, and the devastating guilt that Will's newest client, Nikolai, makes him smile more than Dorian ever has.

Health / Self-Help Using the healing properties of flower essences is an ancient art, spanning many cultures. Flower essences are safe and powerful catalysts that anyone can use. Not only do they bring clarity to the conscious mind and develop many intuitive abilities, but they also resolve negative beliefs and directly affect us at the level where we make decisions about our emotions, health, vitality and relationships. Flower essences unlock our inherent positive qualities such as love, courage and joy. Naturopath Ian White has taken this age-old study and applied it to the flowering plants of the Australian bush, showing that the energy and power in the ancient lands of Australia are manifested in the healing properties of its plants. In Australian Bush Flower Essences, he gives an informative yet personal picture of fifty bush flower essences from all over the country, as well as detailed information about their preparation and use in all areas of healing. He also provides a bibliography of important works about natural healing and an index of illnesses and their treatment. Fully illustrated, Australian Bush Flower Essences is the most comprehensive and farreaching book yet written about this important modality. It is designed to allow anyone to feel competent and confident in using these essences to bring about health, harmony and well-being. IanWhite is a highly respected practitioner and teacher of naturopathy and kinesiology. His family have been natural health practitioners specializing in herbal medicine for five generations. www.ausflowers.com.au