In the summer of 1930, the last few dozen inhabitants of the lonely island of St. Kilda are evacuated. The government finds most of the islanders forestry jobs on the Scottish mainland. However, one of the leaders of the evacuation offers a young woman named Jenny a job on an industrialist's estate in South Wales. While living on the estate Jenny learns that the wealthy man's plans for her were fashioned by his mysterious mistress, a woman named Giovanna. Jenny proves to be too forceful a peronality to control, and she begins to discover the secrets of Giovanna's past and the woman's hold on her former lover.

This book presents a sociomaterial perspective on work and organizational practices within the operating room. Looking at medical work from a sociological perspective and drawing on ethnographic observations conducted in a hospital's operating block, this book analyses the entanglements of humans and technologies in the execution of everyday activities. It highlights how the sociomateriality of work and organizational practices manifests in the encounters between operators and material artifacts and in the way objects and technologies participate in processes and practices of organizational communication. Objects and technologies are also shaped by these very practices, giving rise to a recursive relationship wherein technology, communication, and organizing are intertwined. A sociomaterial understanding of organizational and working practices explains the role of objects and technologies in the generation and enactment of professional knowledge, while questioning how power materializes through the interaction of humans and technical objects. This book will be of great interest to scholars, students, and practitioners interested in how sociomaterial perspectives can inform organization studies and reshape our understanding of the intricate relationships between humans and technologies in healthcare settings.

These ten magical stories are primarily set in Pittsburgh-area river towns, where Italian American women and girls draw from their culture and folklore to bring life and a sense of wonder to a seemingly barren region of the Rust Belt. Each story catapults the ordinary into something original and unpredictable. A skeptical journalist scopes out the bar where the town mayor, in seemingly perfect health, is drinking with his buddies and celebrating what he claims is the last day of his life. A woman donates her dead mother’s clothes to a thrift shop but learns that their destiny is not what she expected. A ten-year-old girl wrestles with the facts of life as she watches her neighbor struggle to get pregnant while her teenage sister finds it all too easy. A high school girl hallucinates in a steamy hospital laundry room and discovers she can see her coworkers’ futures. A developer’s wrecking ball is no match for the legend of Giovanna’s green thumb in the title story “Giovanna’s 86 Circles.” Quirky and profound, Corso’s magical leaps uncover the everyday poetry of these women’s lives. Finalist for the John Gardner Fiction Book Award Selected for “Best Short Stories of 2005” in Montserrat Review Best Books for Regional Special Interests, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Association Sons of Italy National Book Club Selection

The first-ever biography of this almost forgotten eighteenth century star. How a girl from Italy became London’s “most enchanting comic actress.” Giovanna Sestini’s important contribution to opera has been revived in this carefully researched biography. This book describes her Italian and Portuguese background, while providing considerable insight into the contemporary opera scene and social history of 18th century London. In her private family life she was Joanna Stocqueler, mother of eight children, while as Giovanna Sestini she was a renowned and attractive opera singer. Her talents were publicised until her retirement in 1792, when both her voice and the London theatres were in decline. The book offers a full description of her life, including her early performances in Italy and Portugal, her marriage to Portuguese aristocrat José Christiano Stocqueler, and the fate of her children. After her move to London she was acclaimed both in Italian comic opera at the King’s Theatre and in English opera at Covent Garden. This book will appeal to readers with an interest in the arts, opera and eighteenth-century history. It includes 18 illustrations and a full bibliography and index.

Prologue : Verdi and his audience -- War -- Prayer -- Romance -- Sexuality -- Marriage -- Death -- Laughter.

Beautifully told with exceptional skill, "The Midwife of Venice" brings to life a time and a place cloaked in fascination and mystery and introduces a captivating new talent in historical fiction.

Reproductive technologies, says Thompson, are part of the increasing tendency to turn social problems into biomedical questions and can be used as a lens to see the resulting changes in the relations between science and society."--BOOK JACKET.