Books with author John Knowles

Starting middle school brings all the usual challenges - until the unthinkable happens, and Fern and her family must find a way to heal.Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. Her dad is always busy planning how to increase traffic to the family business. Her Mom is constantly going off to meditate. Her sister Sarah, who's taking a "gap year" after high school, is too busy finding ways not to work; and her brother Holden is too focused on his new "friend" to pay attention to her. And then there's Charlie: three years old, a "surprise" baby, and the center of everyone's world. If it wasn't for Ran, Fern's best and oldest friend, there would be nowhere to turn. Ran is always calm, always positive. His mantra "All will be well" is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe. But when their lives are unexpectedly turned upside down, Fern feels more alone than ever, and responsible for the event that wrenches the family apart. All will not be well. Or at least, all will never be the same.

Starting middle school brings all the usual challenges - until the unthinkable happens, and Fern and her family must find a way to heal.Twelve-year-old Fern feels invisible. It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her. Mum helps Dad run "Harry's," the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school, and Holden pretends that Mum and Dad and everyone else don't know he's gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. If it wasn't for Ran, Fern's calm and positive best friend, there'd be nowhere to turn. Ran's mantra, "All will be well," is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe it's true. But then tragedy strikes – and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at least all will never be the same.

Collectible - MacMillan 1960 FIRST Large Print Edition. See Photos. Pages and Hinges are clean and tight. Green hardcover shows very little wear. Dust Jacket has edge and corner bump/wear - very good overall. NO names or inscriptions. Bio & Desc. John Knowles, who died in 2001, was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University, as well as a recipient of the William Faulkner Award and the Rosenthal Award of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. "A Separate Peace" still speaks to us nearly 60 years later, it is only when read at face value, a tale about rivalry, jealously, and the mixture of nobility and evil that lurks in the human heart. Gene comes back 15 years later to try to come to terms with the enormity of his betrayal, to try to forgive himself. How many of us have stood before our own trees, longing to forgive ourselves for hurts impulsively perpetrated in the past? Knowles holds up a mirror to our own visage, and in so doing, guarantees that a lesson from an otherwise obscure setting and a forgotten time will endure.

This was made into a film in 1972 -- A Separate Peace, the novel, written by John Knowles, set in the United States, was written in 1959. Based on his earlier short story "Phineas", it was Knowles' first published novel and became his best-known work. A story about boys in a private school... the competition, the loyal, the disloyalty. A beautifully written book.

Bean (née Pearl) and Henry, misfits and best friends, have the strangest mothers in town. Henry’s mom Sally never leaves the house. Bean’s mom Lexie, if she is home, is likely nursing a hangover or venting to her friend Claire about Bean’s beloved grandfather Gus, the third member of their sunny household.Gus’s death unleashes a host of family secrets that brings them all together. And they threaten to change everything—including Bean’s relationship with Henry, her first friend, and who also might turn out to be her first love.

Bean (née Pearl) and Henry, misfits and best friends, have the strangest mothers in town. Henry's mom Sally never leaves the house. Bean's mom Lexie, if she is home, is likely nursing a hangover or venting to her friend Claire about Bean's beloved grandfather Gus, the third member of their sunny household.Gus's death unleashes a host of family secrets that brings them all together. And they threaten to change everything―including Bean's relationship with Henry, her first friend, and who also might turn out to be her first love.