The daughter of medical missionaries, Elaine Neil Orr was born in Nigeria in 1954, in the midst of the national movement that would lead to independence from Great Britain. But as she tells it in her captivating new memoir, Orr did not grow up as a stranger abroad; she was a girl at home—only half American, the other half Nigerian. When she was sent alone to the United States for high school, she didn't realize how much leaving Africa would cost her. It was only in her forties, in the crisis of kidney failure, that she began to recover her African life. In writing Gods of Noonday she came to understand her double-rootedness: in the Christian church and the Yoruba shrine, the piano and the talking drum. Memory took her back from Duke Medical Center in North Carolina to the shores of West Africa and her hometown of Ogbomosho in the land of the Yoruba people. Hers was not the dysfunctional American family whose tensions are brought into high relief by the equatorial sun, but a mission girlhood is haunted nonetheless--by spiritual atmospheres and the limits of good intentions. Orr's father, Lloyd Neil, formerly a high school athlete and World War II pilot, and her mother, Anne, found in Nigeria the adventure that would have escaped them in 1950s America. Elaine identified with her strong, fun-loving father more than her reserved mother, but she herself was as introspective and solitary as her sister Becky was pretty and social. Lloyd acquired a Chevrolet station wagon which carried Elaine and her friends to the Ethiope River, where they swam much as they might have in the United States. But at night the roads were becoming dangerous, and soon the days were clouded by smoke from the coming Biafran War. Interweaving the lush mission compounds with Nigerian culture, furloughs in the American South with boarding school in Nigeria, and eventually Orr's failing health, the narrative builds in intensity as she recognizes that only through recovering her homeland can she find the strength to survive. Taking its place with classics such as Out of Africa and more recent works like The Poisonwood Bible and Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Gods of Noonday is a deeply felt, courageous portrait of a woman's life.

In Thomas Merton and the Noonday Demon, Donald Grayson transforms a long-neglected cache of letters found in an ancient monastery into a book that offers new insight into the author of these letters, Thomas Merton, the renowned spiritual writer. At the time of their writing, the mid-1950s, he was living as a Trappist monk, at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Having reached an impasse in his monastic vocation he decided to leave Gethsamani for the Monastery of Camaldoli in Italy. Camaldoli at that time, bucolic and peaceful outwardly, was inwardly riven by a pre-Vatican II culture war; whereas Gethsemani, which he tried so hard to leave, became, when he was given his hermitage there in 1965, his place to recover Eden. In walking with Merton on this journey, and reading the letters he wrote and received at the time, we find ourselves asking, as he did, with so much energy and honesty, the deep questions that we may well need to answer in our own lives.

The noonday devil is the demon of acedia, the vice also known as sloth. The word “sloth”, however, can be misleading, for acedia is not laziness; in fact it can manifest as busyness or activism. Rather, acedia is a gloomy combination of weariness, sadness, and a lack of purposefulness. It robs a person of his capacity for joy and leaves him feeling empty, or void of meaning Abbot Nault says that acedia is the most oppressive of demons. Although its name harkens back to antiquity and the Middle Ages, and seems to have been largely forgotten, acedia is experienced by countless modern people who describe their condition as depression, melancholy, burn-out, or even mid-life crisis. He begins his study of acedia by tracing the wisdom of the Church on the subject from the Desert Fathers to Saint Thomas Aquinas. He shows how acedia afflicts persons in all states of life— priests, religious, and married or single laymen. He details not only the symptoms and effects of acedia, but also remedies for it.

A true life story of events that happenened during the Biafra/Nigeria war otherwise called the Nigerian civil war. It chronicles several terrible events never before reported. There is also the background historical antecedents that eventually culminated in the civil war. The war while it lasted was not all about killing, maiming, hunger, and starvation, and the various sadistic behaviours that were exhibited including regretably, cannibalism. There was unbelievably so much fun, music, and profession of love, lots of which are captured for comic relief. I refer to it as Africa’s version of ‘gone with the wind.’

The author offers a look at depression in which he draws on his own battle with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, researchers, doctors, and others to assess the complexities of the disease, its causes and symptoms, and available therapies. This book examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments, and the impact the malady has on various demographic populations, around the world and throughout history. He also explores the thorny patch of moral and ethical questions posed by emerging biological explanations for mental illness. He takes readers on a journey into the most pervasive of family secrets and contributes to our understanding not only of mental illness but also of the human condition.

Robert Stevens and Tim Albright are in their final term at Oxford. Their exams are looming larger and larger on the horizon. But more important to both of them is the production of the fierce Jacobean tragedy, 'The Changeling', which Robert is directing. Along with them, we follow the fortunes of Gina, the seductive and enigmatic leading lady in the play; Chetwynd, the bizarre older student who travels around with a revolver; and Anne, the gentle wife of Robert's tutor. Spiced with humour and anarchy, 'The Noonday Devil' is a masterly work of fiction whose underlying theme, the deadly trap of sloth, leads to an unexpected and almost unbearable climax. 'A gently philosophical, violently human commentary… a story that holds its ironical secrets to the bitter end' Mail on Sunday 'Mr Judd has imparted a wholly original flavour… The novel is so well made, so vibrant with life, that it is a pleasure to read' Scotsman

Selected by The Los Angeles Times Book Review as one of the Ten Best Fiction Books of 2003.

When two strangers have nothing left but their dreams, they forge a relationship in Nantahala, North Carolina, a small town known as Land of the Noonday Sun. Cassandra, the daughter of a wealthy attorney, faces an unexpected upheaval that strips her of her privileged life. Just when she believes she has nowhere left to turn, a lifeline appears, contingent upon her residing in the sleepy little town of Nantahala for six months. Seeking solace, Cassandra finds herself in a whirlwind romance amidst Nantahala's tranquility. But lurking shadows threaten her newfound happiness. Haunted by his own demons, a whitewater guide finds redemption in Cassandra's presence. Despite his turbulent past, their connection blossoms into a profound bond, offering solace and hope amid the turmoil. But their newfound happiness is short-lived when Cassandra mysteriously vanishes, leaving behind only cryptic clues. With secrets unveiled and loyalties tested, Cassandra's fight for survival becomes a battle for two lives. In the shadow of dark secrets, trust wanes, blurring lines between friend and foe. Praised for its gripping narrative, this tale of love, mystery, and redemption offers an edge-of-your-seat journey amidst Nantahala's breathtaking landscapes. What readers are saying... ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "...emotional tale of mystery and suspense about flesh and blood, close relationships, bonds of love and breach of faith. -- Jeannie Walker - Award-winning Author of Fighting the Devil ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "What I liked about this book was that it wasn't the usual mystery, romance or suspense. It had all three but didn't follow expectations. I liked and cared about the characters." -- Jaime Rush - New York Times Bestselling Author of the Offspring Series ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Carmen DeSousa may be incapable of writing a hero that doesn't make me melt." -- wiLoveBooks - Book Reviews