Bøger af Barbara Winther

The Leopard Sings, second in the thriller series, that involves women associated with the San Francisco law office of McCloskey, Warner & Jarvis, takes you to Kenya. It is the story of imaginative Allison and her workaholic husband Burke Warner, a partner in the law firm. In an attempt to repair their failing marriage, Burke grudgingly leaves his busy practice to accompany Allison on a safari, insisting, to her annoyance, that his duty is to protect her. Peculiar events occur on their first day in Nairobi. Strange people appear in odd places and, except for a charming young Englishman, the safari members seem a weird bunch. Soon emotional situations arise, the marriage further disintegrates and mysteries multiply, capped by two terrifying days that end in a struggle for survival.

Open this memoir and visit a bygone age. See pre-WWII America through the eyes of a girl growing up in tough times: No father around. A mother who is distant, emotionally and often physically. A nation rocked by Depression. A life on the move. But this is no dark tale of despair. With its indomitable optimism and keen insight, Barbara Winther's memoir is effervescent, picturesque, and abidingly honest.

Ralph's grandfather and father emigrated to the United States from Mexico long before he was born. From childhood, the big dreams Ralph had have all failed, thwarted by ridicule, unrealistic aims and parental domination. For a fresh start, he moves from the Midwest to Seattle, joins a plumber's union and marries Ruby, a lady he meets on a blind date. In what he believes is a final effort to achieve something good for mankind, he buys 22 acres on Bainbridge Island to create s a refuge for native plants and wildlife. Every Saturday, he ferries over from Seattle to work on this secret project, leaving behind his wife, who has a closer relationship with her parents than with him. Beside Ralph there are four other storytellers whose views propel the story: Agnes, an island old timer, who lives with her husband in a cottage next to Ralph's property, watches and reports on all she sees through her kitchen window; J. Lewis McArthur, owner of the mansion across the street, whose love for golf, guns, his hot tub and Scotch enable him to endure Heather, his Bible-thumping wife, and Jeff, their rebellious teenage son; Arnold Swenson, the duty-bound yet freedom-loving code-enforcement officer for the City of Bainbridge Island, who sees code infractions everywhere but sometimes wishes he didn't; and Ruby, Ralph's wife, who doesn't know why her husband disappears every Saturday and feels her marriage disintegrating. In Ralphs's Dream, a fictional story with fictional characters but a real setting, most folks adapt to a time of big change, while others turn their backs on it and some fight against it. A few don't know what to do. Through all of the turmoil, Ralph struggles to hold onto his dream. Each storyteller has a chapter in the six sections of the book-I. Changing Times, II. Investigations, III. Confrontations, IV Understandings, V. Recriminations, and VI. Changing Lives. Problems escalate after Ralph bashes Jeff on the head with a thermos for littering his forest with beer cans and calling him "a weirdo." In retaliation, J. Lewis chases Ralph through the forest yelling and firing his rifle. Police pursue. The media swoops in. A helicopter hovers. Both men are caught and arrested. Heather is humiliated by her husband's antics and heavy drinking. When Jeff realizes his father has found out about his partying in the woods, he runs away. In a drunken stupor, J. Lewis nearly shoots himself. As he attempts to stay sober, he learns that Jeff has died of a heroin overdose in an alley in Seattle. Heather has a nervous breakdown. Arnold Swenson and his wife try to help. Meanwhile, Ruby discovers Ralph's dream and makes a fateful decision regarding her love for him and the necessity of breaking off detrimental ties with her parents. George and Agnes give up rural life, concluding that in their old age it would be better to live within walking distance of stores and the Senior Center. Ralph's donates his property to the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, and he and Ruby buy George and Agnes's cottage next to it. At the end of the book, Ruby watches through the window as Agnes did in the beginning. .

As with Winther's previous two thrillers, the third one involves a woman associated with the San Francisco law firm of McCloskey, Warner & Jarvis. In the first thriller, "The Jaguar Dances," McCloskey's secretary travels to Peru; in the second, "The Leopard Sings," Warner's wife goes to Kenya. And now in this third thriller, "The Tiger Drums," Chelsea Jarvis, the woman partner in the firm, flies to Japan on a seemingly innocuous business trip that becomes a minefield of explosive situations. This manuscript won an Editor's Award in the "Mainstream Novel" category from the Pacific Northwest Writers' Association. In "The Cat Trio," the collective name of Barbara Winther's three thrillers, the cat takes on many guises while it pads silently beneath the people who move across the pages.

The first in a trio of thrillers involving women in the San Francisco law firm of McCloskey, Warner & Jarvis. In this novel, Jan Fielding, McCloskey's secretary, flies with her friend Carrie to Peru for a vacation. Instead, they find themselves entangled in romance, intrigue and danger and ultimately become pawns in a life-threatening scheme. First Place winner in "International Suspense/Thriller" category from the Pacific Northwest Writers Association.

In The Time of the Kachinas, a reader experiences magic and beauty though the eyes of two Hopi Indian children, Hester, nine, and Honu, seven, as they watch the plaza dances and other public ceremonies that occur during the year from the time the first Kachina spirit appears in their village in December until a time in July, when the Kachinas go home. This is a book for readers of all ages that is educational and fascinating, with 29 full-color drawings created by the author from her collection of Kachina dolls. Included in the book is a glossary and a page of maps that show the location of traditional Hopi villages.

Chronicles Pasco's journey as an artist and the transformation of his work over the last fifty years