Search Results: Returned 9 Results, Displaying Titles 1 - 9
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c2014., General, Hamish Hamilton Call No: BLK Fic Oye Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty--the opposite of the life she's left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman. A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she'd become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy's daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as lightskinned African Americans passing for White. Among them, Boy, Snow, and Bird confront the tyranny of the mirror to ask how much power surfaces really hold.
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-- Ginger bread.2019., Adult, Hamish Hamilton Call No: BLK Fic Oye Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: "The prize-winning, bestselling author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What is Not Yours is Not Yours returns with a bewitching and inventive novel. Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories--equal parts wholesome and uncanny; from the tantalizing witch's house in "Hansel and Gretel" to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can--beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe. Perdita Lee may appear your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druhástrana, the far away (or, according to many sources, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. The world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread, however, is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend Gretel--a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met. Decades later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother's long lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet's story. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi's inimitable style and imagination, it is a true feast for the reader."--.
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-- Mister Foxc2011., General, Penguin Group (Canada) Call No: BLK Fic Oye Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: "Does marriage mean the end of fairy-tale romance? It might if your husband is the writer Mr. Fox, who does devilish things to the heroines of his stories. His wife, Daphne is unable to change his ways but when his imaginary muse - the gorgeously offbeat Mary Fox - conjures herself one sunny afternoon and confronts him about his dark denouements, things take an unexpected turn. Full of period detail, this is a love story like no other, and it reaches a new pitch when Daphne becomes suspicious that her husband is having an affair."--Publisher.
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2007., Bloomsbury Call No: BLK Fic Oye Edition: Paperback ed. Availability:0 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: Maja Carmen Carrerra was only five years old when her family emigrated to London. Growing up, she speaks the Spanish of her native land and the English of her adopted country, but longs for a connection to her African roots. Now in her early twenties, Maja is haunted by thoughts of Cuba and the desire to make sense of the threads of her history. Maja's mother has found comfort in Santeriaa faith that melds Catholic saints and the Yoruba gods of West African religion. Her involvement with Santeria, however, divides the family as Maja's father rails against his wife's superstitions and the lost dreams of the Castro revolution.Maja's narrative is one of two parallel voices in Oyeyemi's beautifully wrought novel. Yemaya Saramagua speaks from the other side of the reality wallin the Somewherehouse, which has two doors, one opening to London, the other to Lagos. A Yoruban goddess, Yemaya, is troubled by the ease with which her fellow gods have disguised themselves as saints and reappeared under different names and faces.As Maja and Yemaya move closer to understanding themselves, they realize that the journey to discovering where home truly lies is at once painful and exhilarating.
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2024., Adult, Hamish Hamilton Call No: NEW BLK Fic Oye Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: For reasons of her own, Hero Tojosoa accepts an invitation she was half expected to decline, and finds herself in Prague on a bachelorette weekend hosted by her estranged friend, Sofie Cibulkova. Little does she know she's arrived in a city with a penchant for playing tricks on the unsuspecting. A book Hero has brought with her seems to be warping her mind: the text changes depending on when it's being read and who's doing the reading, revealing startling new stories of fictional Praguers past and present. Uninvited companions appear at bachelorette activities and at city landmarks, offering opinions, humor, and even a taste of treachery. When a third woman from Hero and Sofie's past appears unexpectedly, the tensions between the friends' different accounts of the past reach a new level.
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2021., Adult, Hamish Hamilton, an imprint of Penguin Canada Call No: BLK Fic Oye Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: When Otto and Xavier Shin declare their love, an aunt gifts them a trip on a sleeper train to mark their new commitment -- and to get them out of her house. Setting off with their pet mongoose, Otto and Xavier arrive at their sleepy local train station, but quickly deduce that The Lucky Day is no ordinary locomotive. Their trip on this former tea-smuggling train has been curated beyond their wildest imaginations, complete with mysterious and welcoming touches, like ingredients for their favourite breakfast. They seem to be the only people onboard, until Otto discovers a secretive woman who issues a surprising message. As further clues and questions pile up, and the trip upends everything they thought they knew, Otto and Xavier begin to see connections to their own pasts, connections that now bind them together.
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2016., Adult, Hamish Hamilton Call No: BLK Fic Oye Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: "Playful, ambitious, and exquisitely imagined, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours is cleverly built around the idea of keys, literal and metaphorical. The key to a house, the key to a heart, the key to a secret--Oyeyemi's keys not only unlock elements of her characters' lives, they promise further labyrinths on the other side. In 'Books and Roses' one special key opens a library, a garden, and clues to at least two lovers' fates. 'Sorry Doesn't Sweeten Her Tea' involves a 'house of locks,' where doors can be closed only with a key--with surprising, unobservable developments. And in 'If a Book Is Locked There's Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think,' a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason). As ever, Oyeyemi's creative vision and storytelling are effervescent, wise, and insightful, and her tales span multiple times and landscapes as they tease boundaries between coexisting realities. Is a key a gate, a gift, or an invitation? What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours captivates as it explores the many possible answers."--From publisher.
