Oxford Messed Up is a unique literary love story that transports readers on a meaningful and emotional journey where the academic world of Oxford, the music of Van Morrison, and an old claw-foot bathtub serve as a backdrop for learning, self-discovery, and transcendent love. Rhodes Scholar Gloria Zimmerman is an academic superstar who has come to Oxford University to study feminist poetry. Yet the rigors of the academy pale in comparison to her untreated Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, fueled by her overachieving parents and manifested in a deathly aversion to germs and human contact. Her next-door neighbor (who is also, to her mortification, her loomate) is Henry Young, the appealing but underachieving musician son of an overbearing and disapproving Oxford don. Still mourning the death of his supportive mother while enduring the mockery of his disapproving and merciless father, Henry is haunted by the unexpectedly serious ramifications of a reckless and tragic youth. Gloria and Henry's relationship evolves from a shared obsession with Van Morrison's music into a desire on the part of each to fill in the gaps in the life of the other. Yet the constraints of a debilitating illness and the looming revelation of a catastrophic secret conspire to throw their worlds into upheaval and threaten the possibilities of their unlikely yet redemptive love.
After the death of her beloved grandfather, sixteen-year-old Caroline resists change, spending her time with an elderly grandmother or alone, until a flamboyant new girl at school draws her reluctantly...
Mrs. Hoffman was waiting for her. “Mrs. Huntington just came down these stairs and she did not look happy,” the housekeeper said, her eyes practically vibrating in her unmoving face. “What has been going on?” Variola came into view over ...
(16) Thomas Jefferson to Paul Allen These three excerpts are taken from a biographical essay of Meriwether Lewis which Thomas Jefferson was asked to provide for the publication of the Lewis and Clark Journals in 1814. Paul Allen was the ...
Jim Nichols , a computer software salesman from Greenville , S.C. , buried his younger brother Chris in Ramsey Creek after the 28 - year - old died of cancer in May . “ Chris was what you might call a hippie , and he was very conscious ...
Selected Readings in Child Development: Chapter 19. Death, dying and bereavement
Presents materials that reveal the essence of Tolstoy's beliefs on immortality, death, God, and the meaning of life.
This tautly suspenseful tale full of betrayal and unexpected plot twists is a worthy diversion.
Our narrator tells the sad tale of her marriage, marred by a husband who breaks her heart spending their money in disreputable establishments, while she, Barbara, slowly withers away.
“ Chocolate chip . My favorite kind . " Marsha poured the iced tea . " I've been meaning to ask you . Is Gabe short for Gabriel ? ” " No , it's even worse . I was named Galbraith Allen . Galbraith was my mother's maiden name . ” 67.
This is the story of Laura, Amanda and a she-otter, executed in Saki's characteristic witty and caustic style.