Books with author Mary Dunn

What if Charles Dickens had written a 21st century thriller? Welcome to Dingley Dell. The Encyclopedia Britannica (Ninth Edition), a King James Bible, a world atlas, and a complete set of the novels of Charles Dickens are the only books left to the orphans of Dingley Dell when the clandestine anthropological experiment begins. From these, they develop their own society, steeped in Victorian tradition and the values of a Dickensian world. For over a century Dinglians live out this semi-idyllic and anachronistic existence, aided only by minimal trade with the supposedly plague-ridden Outland. But these days are quickly coming to an end. The experiment, which has evolved into a lucrative voyeuristic peep-box for millionaires and their billionaire descendants, has run its course. Dingley Dell must be totally expunged, and with it, all trace of the thousands of neo-Victorians who live there. A few Dinglians learn the secret of both their manipulated past and their doomed future, and this small, motley crew of Dickensian innocents must race the clock to save their countrymen and themselves from mass annihilation.

This is a book, not just for the young but for the young at heart. It is an extraordinary tale of the magical wonderlands and spectacular adventures of a young boy who sets out on a strange mission to rescue his mother from the mystical world she fell into. With the help of a grumpy leprechaun called Percy and an impulsive female fairy called Sam, (who have put aside their differences with each other in order to help the boy) the little group enter the bizarre world of 'The Book of Magical Adventures'. In it they have to endure the toils and dangers of the adventure as opposed to reading it. A new world opens up to them, a world of weird, magical characters and customs in an Irish mythical setting. This is the story of the trials and tribulations along the way. Above all it is the story of a boy who will risk everything to get his mother back.

Following the national success of Ella Minnow Pea, this second novel from Mark Dunn brings the same charm and love of good language to a small town in the South. A Robert Altmanesque comedy, Welcome to Higby follows the hilarious goings-on in a small town in northern Mississippi over Labor Day weekend. From mousy Carmen Valentine, whose guardian angel, Arnetta, gives her penny-pinching shopping tips, to addled old Hank Grammar, who preaches Jesus to his neighbors' pets, Higby's townsfolk have a knack for getting into -- and trouble getting out of -- outrageous situations. Blessed with an unerring eye for dead-on details, Dunn lovingly traces the eccentric and touching lives of his characters, offering an intelligent yet heartwarming vision of life in small-town America. Welcome to Higby is a Southern comical tale about simple dreams both realized and thwarted by all the complexities of the human heart.

<DIV>What if Charles Dickens had written a contemporary thriller? In Under the Harrow, a group of Victorians live a semi-idyllic and unwitting, anachronistic existence, aided only by minimal trade-related contact with the supposedly plague-ridden Outland. They are products of an experiment that had become a lucrative, voyeuristic peep-box for millionaires and their billionaire descendants. But the experiment has run its course, and Dingley Dell must be totally expunged–and with it, all trace of the thousands of men, women, and children who live there. A few Dinglians learn the secret of both their manipulated past and their doomed future, and it is this motley group of Dickensian innocents who must race the clock to save their fellow countrymen and themselves from mass annihilation. Under the Harrow showcases the kind of dazzling wordplay and narrative richness that have made Mark Dunn's novels and plays both commercially successful and critically acclaimed.</DIV>