Allison Pataki is a New York Times bestselling author whose works delve into historical narratives and personal resilience. She is celebrated for her captivating storytelling, which breathes life into past figures and events with contemporary sensibility. Her writing explores the complexities of human connection and the strength of the spirit when faced with adversity. Pataki's ability to weave history with universal themes makes her a compelling read.
A New York Times Bestselling Author A deeply moving memoir about a young couple whose lives were changed in the blink of an eye, and the love that helped them rewrite their future. Five months pregnant, on a flight to their "babymoon," Allison Pataki turned to her husband when he asked if his eye looked strange and watched him lose consciousness. After an emergency landing, she learned that Dave's a healthy thirty-year-old athlete and surgical resident, had suffered a rare and life-threatening stroke. As a way to make sense of their new reality, Allison wrote daily letters to Dave's to preserve their past, protect their present, and fight for their future.
"As the French revolution ravages the country, Desiree Clary is faced with the life-altering truth that the world she has known and loved is gone. Her head -- as well as her family -- is at risk, and it's fallen on her to save them from the guillotine. A chance encounter with Napoleon Bonaparte, the ambitious and charismatic young military prodigy, provides her answer. When her beloved sister Julie marries his brother Joseph, Desiree and Napoleon's futures become irrevocably linked. Quickly entering into their own passionate, dizzying courtship followed by a secret engagement, they vow to meet in the capital once his career has been secured. But her newly laid plans with Napoleon turn to sudden heartbreak, due to the rising star of Parisian society, Josephine de Beauharnais. Once again, Desiree's life is turned upside down. Swept to the glittering halls of the French capital, Desiree is plunged into the inner circle of the new ruling class, becoming further entangled with Napoleon, his family, and his Empress. But her fortunes shift once again when she meets Napoleon's confidant and star general, the indomitable Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. When these two men become political rivals and military foes, the question that arises is: will Desiree choose the love of her new husband or the love of her nation and its Emperor? From the lavish estates of the French Riviera to the raucous streets of Paris and Stockholm, Desiree finds herself at the epicenter of the rise and fall of an empire, navigating a constellation of political giants and dangerous, shifting alliances. Emerging from an impressionable girl into a fierce young woman, she discovers that to survive in this world she must learn to rely upon her instincts and her heart"--Provided by publisher
"An epic reimagining of the remarkable life of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the American heiress and trailblazing leader of the twentieth century, from the New York Times bestselling author of Sisi. Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. Such is Marjorie Merriweather Post's average evening. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. Covered in diamonds and deemed American royalty, Marjorie nevertheless remains the product of her hardscrabble Midwestern roots and an insatiable drive to live, love, and give. A woman who has crawled through Moscow warehouses to rescue the Tsar's treasures, who has outrun the Nazis in London, and who has sat down to dinner with everyone from the homeless during the Great Depression to Kremlin leaders, from European royalty to Hollywood stars, Marjorie lived a grand life that defies imagination. Marjorie's was a journey that began on the Great Plains, where she glued cereal boxes in her father's barn as a young girl. None could have predicted that C. W. Post's homegrown Postum Cereal Company would fundamentally reshape the American way of life and grow into the vast General Foods empire, with Marjorie as its glittering heiress and leading lady. Not content to stay in her prescribed rolesof coddled wife, mother, and hostess, Marjorie dared to demand more, making history as a leader in her family's business and a trailblazer in philanthropy and high society. Marjorie lived like an empress, worked like a titan of industry, and shaped a century. And yet Marjorie's story, though full of beauty and lived in her palatial homes like Mar-a-Lago, was equally marked by heartbreak. A wife four times over in vastly different, dramatic marriages, Marjorie sought her happily-ever-after with the blue-blooded playboy who could not outrun his demons, the charismatic financier whose charm could not conceal his betrayal, the diplomat with a dark side, and the bon vivant whose shocking secrets would shake their circles. Marjorie did everything on a grand scale, especially when it came to love"-- Provided by publisher
"In imperial Vienna, where the court halls buzzed with waltzes and champagne, as well as temptation, rivals, and cutthroat intrigue, the intensely personal tale of Empress Sisi unraveled. Infamously beautiful, a mother of four, and wife of Emperor Franz Joseph - whom she unintentionally stole away from her sister - Sisi's reign was anything but simple. Against the backdrop of a rich, romantic, and volatile time period--marked by pivotal events such as the opening of the Suez Canal, Vienna's World Exhibition, and the lead up to WWI--Sisi, the beloved "Fairy Queen," was a woman well ahead of her time during a true Golden Age in European history"-- Provided by publisher
Fifteen-year-old Elisabeth, "Sisi," Duchess of Bavaria, travels to the Habsburg Court with her older sister, who is betrothed to the young emperor. But shortly after her arrival at court, Sisi finds herself in an unexpected dilemma: she has inadvertently fallen for and won the heart of her sister's groom. Franz Joseph reneges on his earlier proposal and declares his intention to marry Sisi instead.
"Five months pregnant, on a flight to their 'babymoon, ' Allison Pataki turned to her husband when he asked if his eye looked strange and watched him lose consciousness. After an emergency landing, she discovered that Dave--a healthy thirty-year-old athlete and surgical resident--had suffered a rare, life-threatening stroke. Allison was unsure if her husband would survive the night. When Dave finally woke up, he could not carry memories from hour to hour, and Allison realized she had lost the man she knew and loved. Soon she was caring for both a newborn and a husband, struggling with the fear of what was to come. Trying to make sense of the unfathomable experiences unfolding around her, Allison started to write daily letters to Dave, to provide him with the memories that would preserve their past, protect their present, and fight for their future. Those letters became the foundation of this beautiful, intimate memoir--a manifesto for living and an uplifting story about the transformative power of finding joy in the broken places."--Page 4 of cover
The Big Apple may be hiding in the place you least expect it in this spunky introduction to the best parts of New York. Nelly lives in New York, the greatest city in the world. Every morning, she wakes up to the rumble of the subways and the honking of cars. Every morning, she can smell the food cart downstairs and hear the rat-a-tat-tat of the street musicians outside. Every morning, she goes outside to be in the city she knows like the back of her hand—or does she? One morning, Nelly and her dog Bagel decide to find out what New York is really about—or more specifically, why a city that has nothing to do with apples is the Biggest Apple of them all. Could there really be a giant apple somewhere in New York? And where is it hiding?
"Socialite Peggy Shippen is half Benedict Arnold's age when she seduces the war hero during his stint as military commander of Philadelphia. Blinded by his young bride's beauty and wit, Arnold does not realize that she harbors a secret: loyalty to the British. Nor does he know that she hides a past romance with the handsome British spy John André. Peggy watches as her husband, crippled from battle wounds and in debt from years of service to the colonies, grows ever more disillusioned with his hero, Washington, and the American cause. Together with her former love and her disaffected husband, Peggy hatches the plot to deliver West Point to the British and, in exchange, win fame and fortune for herself and Arnold."--from cover, page [4].
"Three years after the storming of the Bastille, Paris is emboldened with the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The monarchy of King Louis and Marie Antoinette has been dismantled and a new nation, for the people, is rising up in its place. Jean-Luc, a young optimistic lawyer, moves his wife, Marie, and their infant son from their comfortable life in Marseilles to Paris, inspired by a sense of duty to contribute to the new order. André, the son of a former wealthy Duke, sheds his privileged upbringing to fight in the unified French Army with his roguish brother, Remy. Sophie, a descendant of a wealthy aristocratic family and niece of a militant uncle, embarks on her own fight for independence. But underneath the glimmer of hope and freedom, chaos threatens to undo all the progress of the revolution and the lives of these compatriots become inextricably linked. As the demand for justice, aided by the new invention of the guillotine, breeds instability, creates enemies out of compatriots, and fuels a constant rush of blood in the streets, Jean-Luc, Andre, and Sophie are forced to question the sacrifices made for the revolution and determine what is right in the midst of a struggling society"--
