Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Literary Fiction

A renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Rafael Neruda is troubled by a patient's death. He investigates the circumstances and discovers that he must delve into his own unimaginably painful childhood and confront the nature of evil itself. Now, endangering both his personal and professional future, Dr. Neruda will devise the ultimate test for his cure for evil a cure that becomes a shocking journey of eroticism, manipulation, and danger.

There are eight million stories in the naked city; Anna is one of them. Let 'Em Eat Cake is a gritty, funny first novel that draws us into the life of lower-middle-class New York City as never before.

A brooding, suspenseful novel of sensuality and vengeance, set amid the fields and villages of 19th century England. Bella Ford, jilted by her unscrupulous lover, plans revenge that ends in a catastrophic act of violence.

Five-year-old Will is the precocious child of Jody and Wayne. Jody is a woman who dreams of becoming a celebrity and is having an affair with a man named Mel, while Wayne is no stranger to infidelity, either. The details of their intertwined lives form an intricate and often disturbing picture of modern day life—a life in which Will is unable to achieve a sense of normalcy from either parent.

In the year 2005, Sarah finds herself drawn into the tumultuous lives of her unconventional ancestors. Spanning a hundred years, she calls to memory her great-grandmother Sarah, propelled by a Russian pogrom to America in 1906; her grandmother Salome, who cavorted with Henry Miller in pre-war Paris; and finally, her mother, Sally, a famous folk singer and emblem of the 1960s. Through the paradoxical nature of memory, Sarah discovers the power and passion that is her matriarchal birthright and comes to understand and impart her own story.

During the course of a long summer, it becomes clear to two young, lost, and bored Korean War vets that their future lies outside Indianapolis—amid the gleaming towers of Manhattan, where they will find glory, fame, and lots of women. Set in the 1950s, this novel by acclaimed author Dan Wakefield seethes with pent-up frustration and confusion, and nearly every episode bubbles with hilarity.

A baffling series of incidents at the majestic Paris Opera sparks frightening rumors about a mysterious opera ghost. Performers are ill-at-ease when they sit alone in their dressing rooms, alleging to have seen the enigma in evening clothes moving about in the shadows. Then a young and beautiful prima donna is visited by a masked "Angel of Music" who teaches her to sing and jealously demands her devotion—but with a price. With an increasing pattern of fear and violence, the phantom of the opera begins to strike, but always with a beautiful young performer at the center of his deadly desires.

A pauper's child reared in a workhouse, young Oliver Twist serves an apprenticeship in a loveless house. Despairing, he runs away and is befriended by a gang of young pickpockets who offer him the only welcome home he has ever known. Falling under the influence of villainous company, the young orphan struggles to escape from a life of poverty and crime, in search of the love he longs for. Oliver Twist is one of Dickens' greatest achievements, a vivid depiction of London's outlaw society with an array of memorable characters.

The welfare of children—a theme of many novels by Charles Dickens—is central to Nicholas Nickleby, the story of a fatherless young man, his mother, and his sister who find themselves at the mercy of a greedy and unscrupulous relative. Nicholas Nickleby is both a vivid indictment of the exploitive, brutal boarding schools of the late 19th century and a celebration of a little family's resilient generosity of spirit. Actor Paul Scofield's performance captures the warmth and charm of this story and its array of colorful characters.