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Relegated to the status of schoolteacher and friendly neighbor after abandoning her dreams of becoming a successful artist, Nora advocates on behalf of a charismatic Lebanese student and is drawn into the child's family until his artist mother's careless ambition leads to a shattering betrayal. Nora Eldridge, a 37-year-old elementary school teacher in Cambridge, Massachusetts has become the 'woman upstairs', a reliable friend and tidy neighbor always...

Leonardo da Vinci was a gifted painter, talented musician, and dedicated scientist and inventor, designing flying machines, submarines, and even helicopters.  Yet he had a hard time finishing things, a problem anyone can relate to.  Only thirteen paintings are known to be his; as for the illustrated encyclopedia he intended to create, all that he left were thousands of disorganized notebook pages.  Here is an accessible portrait of...

"A woman invites a famous artist to use her guesthouse in the remote coastal landscape where she lives with her family. Powerfully drawn to his paintings, she believes his vision might penetrate the mystery at the center of her life. But as a long, dry summer sets in, his provocative presence itself becomes an enigma--and disrupts the calm of her secluded household."-- Provided by publisher.

The setting of a Roman gallery brings together four characters in van Eyck's The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin. Nicolas Rolin, the Duke of Burgundy's minister of finance, is on his knees before the Madonna, who is being crowned by an angel. Rolin is being blessed by the infant Jesus. Outside, a rich landscape is peopled with a number of unknown characters. The work is analyzed as a complex painting, difficult to decipher.

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk is a novel made up of stories: Twenty-three of them, to be precise. Twenty-three of the most horrifying, hilarious, mind-blowing, stomach-churning tales you’ll ever encounter—sometimes all at once. They are told by people who have answered an ad headlined “Writers’ Retreat: Abandon Your Life for Three Months,” and who are led to believe that here they will leave behind all the distractions...

Friends since earliest childhood, Annie, Jake, and Mason have a special bond. When Annie's parents die on the same night that she and Mason get married, the three friends decide to raise Annie's infant sister, Opal, together. Not surprisingly, their bonds of intimacy, already deeply entangled, become strained. As Annie struggles, events take on a momentum of their own. And then, one fateful night, the three friends goad each other into stepping over...

When professional house-sitter Lila Emerson witnesses a murder/suicide from her current apartment-sitting job, life as she knows it takes a dramatic turn. Suddenly, the woman with no permanent ties finds herself almost wishing for one. Artist Ashton Archer knows his brother isn't capable of violence--against himself or others. He recruits Lila, the only eyewitness, to help him uncover what happened. Ash longs to paint her as intensely as he hungers...