Tears In The Rubble

Layla Swanson is terrified of getting stuck in her small town, Hollow Oaks. So, she's made a plan. Graduate her tiny high school, go to college away from home, and get her dream job. She's studied hard and devoted her high school career to reaching her goal. Graduation is just around the corner, and Layla is faced with the only person who could ever throw a wrench in her plan, Taylor Scott. He's her childhood best friend and despite the years since they've been close he knows her better than anyone else. A chance meeting leads them down a road Layla never imagined. Now, Layla has to choose between her longtime plan to get away from Hollow Oaks and the one who's captured her heart.

From the straight boulevards that smashed their way through rambling old Paris to create the city we know today to the televised implosion of Las Vegas casinos to make room for America’s ever grander desert of dreams, demolition has long played an ambiguous role in our lives. In lively, colorful prose, Rubble rides the wrecking ball through key episodes in the world of demolition. Stretching over more than five hundred years of razing and toppling, this story looks back to London’s Great Fire of 1666, where self-deputized wreckers artfully blew houses apart with barrels of gunpowder to halt the furious blaze, and spotlights the advent of dynamite—courtesy of demolition’s patron saint, Alfred Nobel—that would later fuel epochal feats of unbuilding such as the implosion of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in St. Louis. Rubble also delves beyond these bravura blasts to survey the world-jarring invention of the wrecking ball; the oddly stirring ruin of New York’s old Pennsylvania Station, that potent symbol of the wrecker run amok; and the ever busy bulldozers in places as diverse as Detroit, Berlin, and the British countryside. Rich with stories of demolition’s quirky impresarios—including Mark Loizeaux, the world-famous engineer of destruction who brought Seattle’s Kingdome to the ground in mere seconds—this account makes first-hand forays to implosion sites and digs extensively into wrecking’s little-known historical record. Rubble is also an exploration of what happens when buildings fall, when monuments topple into memory, and when “destructive creativity” tears down to build again. It unearths the world of demolition for the first time and, along the way, throws a penetrating light on the role that destruction must play in our lives as a necessary prelude to renewal. Told with arresting detail and energy, this tale goes to the heart of the scientific, social, economic, and personal meaning of how we unbuild our world. Rubble is the first-ever biography of the wrecking trade, a riveting, character-filled narrative of how the black art of demolition grew to become a multibillion-dollar business, an extreme spectator sport, and a touchstone for what we value, what we disdain, who we were, and what we wish to become.

Past the sparkling blue sea and inside the solid walls of the white marble city of Darenjar, an unseen venom spreads, bringing all under the control of a dark power. But still the people speak of the wars of a thousand years ago, of the days before the Lost God was banished, of the days when dragons flew the skies, of the Prophecies. The young thief Berran knew nothing much of lost gods or prophecies when he unintentionally stole Raiephin's Tear, a creation of the Dark God that has all the magic of the world imbued in its core. It is a daring act that attracts the eyes of those with evil intent. The theft sparks off a chain reaction of events with Berran in the middle. The authorities have never been fond of him, but now someone very high up wants him dead. Since stealing the Tear, he finds he has an inexplicable command over the highest levels of magic. His mystery-shrouded past isn't coughing up any answers, but it is doing a good job creating more questions. Enduring pain and hardship, Berran realizes that friendship is only one part of the key to unlocking the riddles of his life. He knows he's not a brave hero like those in the stories of old. However, at times fear proves to be a good thing as Berran is swept up in the inextricable grasp of a powerful prophecy, trying to resurrect the Lost God and restore the magic that is slipping away from the world.

From the Rubble is a Hollow Oaks novella and the conclusion to Tears in the Rubble. This edition includes the bonus short story, Give Me Just One Night. Loving someone unconditionally is never easy and forgiveness can be even harder. After being apart for a while Taylor and Layla were reunited only to have their lifelong bond tested by Layla's secret. They bury their feelings for one another, good and bad, just to get by day to day. They're forced together, but Taylor struggles to forgive Layla. As he falls into the role he didn't see coming he wonders if holding onto his anger and hurt is the best thing to do. Layla's guilt overwhelms her as she fights herself and her feelings for Taylor. She doesn't believe she deserves another chance. She's already had too many. Mending a broken relationship won't be easy. Taylor's determination to make Layla his for the rest of their lives will test her resolve.

Ted Loder continues to inspire readers with his powerful prayers, sermons, and reflections. This compilation includes Guerrillas of Grace, Wrestling the Light, The Haunt of Grace, and Tracks in the Straw. Loder's words speak to the human experience, drawing out the beauty and struggle as we respond to the grace of God.

The story of the last survivor pulled from the 9/11 Ground Zero debris after 27 hours and her journey from desperation to a miraculous salvation.

She’s Polish. He’s German. Enemies even after the war. A Wehrmacht deserter of conscience, hiding out on a farm in Poland. The woman who loves him. Richard thought he’d be safe once the war was over… … and he was wrong. Staying with her threatens both of their lives. Katrina longed for peace. But when it finally arrives, nothing changes. Because loving the wrong man still is a crime. To be together they must embark on a life-threatening flight across two countries with no one to turn to for help. This page-turning adventure by an USA Today Bestselling Author will immerse you into the chaos ravaging Europe in the aftermath of WW2 with great attention to historical detail. Bitter Tears is book 8 in the War Girl series but can be read as stand-alone. Characters from previous books make an appearance in later books of the series. Topics: Berlin, World War Two, WWII, German Literature, Historical Fiction, Resistance, European Literature, Heartbreaking Story of Love and Redemption, Jewish and Holocaust History, Concentration Camps, Espionage, Nazi Party, Gestapo, Holocaust, Forbidden love, runaway love story, romantic tale, us against the world Perfect for fans of Ann Bennett, Lucinda Riley, Dinah Jefferies, Victoria Hislop, Marius Gabriel, Tracy Chevalier, Fiona Valpy, Deborah Swift, Jenny Ashcroft, Petra Durst-Benning, Nicola Cornick, Janet MacLeod Trotter, Jean Grainger, Clare Flynn, Kate Furnivall, Kristin Hannah. Sharon Maas, Anna Jacobs, Helen Carey, Catherine Hokin, Sarah Lark, Tania Crosse, Rhys Bowen, Angela Petch, Hazel Gaynor, Roberta Kagan, Anna Stuart, Kate Hewitt, Ellie Midwood, Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger, Eoin Dempsey, Suzanne Goldring

A Palestinian refugee’s inspiring tale of her lifelong fight to return home. Olfat Mahmoud is a Palestinian refugee – a descendant of the Christian and Muslim people who fled Palestine in the period leading up to and after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. She is an accomplished woman in her own right: the director of an international NGO, an internationally recognised peace activist, a registered nurse and, most recently, the recipient of a doctorate. Born in a refugee camp in Lebanon more than 60 years ago, Olfat’s determination to help her people in their fight to return to their homeland led to a nursing career that has placed her at the front line of atrocious massacres and wars in the Middle East. Tears for Tarshiha follows Olfat’s career amid the death and destruction of Lebanon’s many conflicts, and chronicles the Palestinian people’s remarkable capacity for love and bravery in the most extreme conditions. Olfat’s extraordinary story is emblematic of the Palestinian plight, illustrating their continued survival and determination that has become an inconvenience to the international community. These are the descendants of those Palestinians who were forced from their homeland at gunpoint by the Israeli military in 1948 in what is known as the Nakba – or Catastrophe. In 1949, David Ben-Gurion, one of the founders and the first prime minister of Israel, stated that ‘we must do everything to ensure [the Palestinians] never do return...the old will die and the young will forget’. Despite Olfat’s parents and grandparents never seeing Tarshiha again, this book is part of Olfat’s ongoing campaign to keep her people’s predicament in the public consciousness.

Vol. 2, no. 49 called "Memorial edition" (Belle Case La Follette)