Bøker utgitt av Astra House

Like Nolan's Oppenheimer by way of Lucia Berlin, a radiant novel tracking the lifecycle of a silver screen starlet rising against the backdrop of the mid-20th century. Barbara is born shortly before World War II and lives through the conflict as a desert child trailing her father, an engineer in the famed and infamous Manhattan Project. When Barbara is thirteen, her beautiful, sensitive mother commits suicide. From that point on, these twin poles--the historic and the personal, the political and the violently intimate--vie for control of Barbara's consciousness. As Barbara grows up and becomes a successful actress, traveling the world between film sets and love affairs, she takes on and sheds various roles--vampire's victim and frontier prostitute; a saint and a bored housewife. She marries and divorces and marries again, the second time to a visionary director who proves to be the love of her life. Though they are not faithful to each other, their relationship provides the most enduring anchor in a remarkable life turbulent with fiction. Joni Murphy's Barbara is a deep character study of a woman losing hold and recapturing her identity through the art and technology of moviemaking. Through an intimate first-person perspective, the novel follows Barbara as she navigates decades and genres--from austere 1950s family dramas to countercultural 1970s gothics--glimpsing herself in the reflective and deadly shards of the long 20th Century.

"Sunrise is a collection of interconnected stories examining the effects of nuclear power on generations of women. Connecting changes to everyday life to the development of the atomic bomb, Sunrise shows us how the discovery of radioactive power has shaped our history and continues to shape our future"--

"A captivating view of evolution that brings together research from a variety of scientific disiplines to create a compelling argument that supports what is now called evolution by natural selection."--Provided by publisher.

"What happens while you're sleeping? Your toys go out to play! After a long day of jumping in the leaves and reading her favorite books, this little girl is worn out but her favorite stuffed animal, Planet, is just getting started. Planet befriends a dog, gobbles a cookie, and takes a leap into the unknown. This tender, gorgeous tale by the internationally renowned cartoonist Liniers will reveal to early readers the wonders that exist at night, in secret, after they close their eyes"--

Grandma Ginny and Timmy take a trip to visit the site of the family farm, where the old house and some rickety buildings still stand. Timmy had visited with Grandpa before and learned all about his tractor, but Grandma has her own stories to tell of planting the fields, harvesting the crops, and feeding the animals. Guided by Grandma's farm diary and her fond memories, Timmy and Grandma tour the land and talk about what life was like back then eartwarming intergenerational story is perfect for grandparents to share with their grandchildren, and for those looking for a story to share about simpler times.