I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
The classic novel about a young woman's struggle against madness, now a Holt Paperback, with a new afterword by the author Hailed by The New York Times as "convincing and emotionally gripping" upon its publication in 1964, Joanne Greenberg's semiautobiographical novel stands as a timeless and unforgettable portrayal of mental illness. Enveloped in the dark inner kingdom of her schizophrenia, sixteen-year-old Deborah is haunted by private tormentors that isolate her from the outside world. With the reluctant and fearful consent of her parents, she enters a mental hospital where she will spend the next three years battling to regain her sanity with the help of a gifted psychiatrist. As Deborah struggles toward the possibility of the "normal" life she and her family hope for, the reader is inexorably drawn into her private suffering and deep determination to confront her demons. A modern classic, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden remains every bit as poignant, gripping, and relevant today as when it was first published.
I Never Promised You A Rose Garden
"The best book I have read all year. Simply brilliant." – Iain Dale "Oates takes you on an extraordinary journey ... His is a life lesson that serendipity and courage can change things for good." – Laura Kuenssberg, former BBC political editor "Few in political life are as candid about the underpinning of what drives them. A gripping tale of escape and rescue, this is the story of the making of a liberal soul." – Gary Gibbon, political editor, Channel 4 News *** Aged fifteen, armed with a credit card stolen from his father, Jonny Oates ran away from home and boarded a plane to Addis Ababa. His plan? To save the Ethiopian people from the devastating 1985 famine. Discovering that demand for the assistance of unskilled fifteen-year-old English boys was limited, he swiftly learned that you can't change the world by pure force of will – a lesson that would prove invaluable in politics. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden charts Oates's journey from his darkest moments alone in Ethiopia, struggling with his sexuality and mental health, to the heart of Westminster, where, as Nick Clegg's chief of staff, he grapples with the compromises and concessions of coalition. Shot through with a captivating warmth and humour, this heart-stoppingly candid memoir reflects on the challenges of balancing idealism and pragmatism, illustrating how lasting change comes from working together rather than standing alone.
Lisa, Bright and Dark
Selected as one of TheNew York Times Book Review’s Best Books of the Year and honored worldwide, Lisa, Bright and Dark was an immediate sensation when it was first published. Detailing how mental illness affects friends and family of the ill, Lisa, Bright and Dark has been in print for more than forty years. Its value has not diminished over time, and readers throughout the world contact the author regularly to discuss their reactions to it. A straight-through read, it is full of romance, excitement, suspense, and finally triumph.
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Since arriving home from working overseas, Jennifer Cooper and her husband, Ted, had been searching for an exciting, fulfilling initiation into what they believed to be their destiny. Discontented with city life, the couple eventually purchased a neglected old cabin on the coast without any idea that the fork in the path of their life would soon deviate from the predictable route and lead them into unknown territory. In a candid retelling, Jennifer reveals how fate guided them to seek refuge in a real estate agent’s office on a cold, windy day, ultimately changing the course of their lives forever. After disclosing how they spontaneously purchased a rundown, two-hundred-acre dairy farm with a spectacular view, Jennifer details how their poorly researched and impulsive “Sea Change” led them down an uncertain path filled with years of accidents, incidents, and downright disasters that would not only revealed their determination to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, but also to live their lives with gratitude and purpose. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden is the true story of a couple’s foray from seasoned city slickers to naïve farmers who eventually proved that positivity always leads us in the right direction, no matter how hard life becomes.
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Exactly a week after the general election, two men – ‘Call me Dave’ and ‘Call me Nick’ – walked side by side into the rose garden of No. 10 Downing Street to give their first press-conference as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, looking for all the world like men in love. It was a romance in which people wanted to believe. But it was also one that people couldn't help but mistrust. Most unnerving, however, was the sense that they both couldn't quite believe their luck. Cameron: I can't believe it. All those people out there just for us ... Clegg: I know. It's mad, isn't it? I have to keep pinching myself as well. Cameron: Go on say it again ... Clegg: What? Cameron: Call me Prime Minister ... The storms the Dave and Nick partnership would have to face (same sex marriage, plebgate, triple dip recession, riots ...) were then unclear. Now, almost five years on, this up-to-the-minute portrait of Westminster and the forthcoming General Election exposes the realities of the Coalition, while offering an indispensible guide to a half-decade of madness: · * Foreign Policy - The new 'special relationship' - William Hague and Angelina Jolie · * The Economy - Osborne finally cracks it: boom in London; bust everywhere else. · * Immigration - should the entire population of Bulgaria pick strawberries for us? · * The Opposition - how Labour got the wrong Miliband. Includes: * UKIP, PPI, ISIS and other dubious acronyms. · * The countdown to the General Election 2015: five years of planning since the last one. Insightful, painful, very funny, this is a must-read for all of us with a vote, whichever side we thought we were on.
