Bøger af Goldie Alexander

When Billie Hatchman inherits a bed & breakfast from her estranged great aunt, she's not prepared to be haunted by the well-intentioned ghost-or to be set up with her sexy but very much unavailable next-door neighbor. A GHOST OF A CHANCE Tenderhearted Billie Hatchman has known no day without backbreaking hard work since she found out she was pregnant twelve years ago. Now she's inherited a bed-and-breakfast from her great aunt, a woman she never met. It looks like her problems are solved. Except, Billie's not prepared for the immense loneliness that comes with such a life. There's enough to keep her distracted day to day, but thoughts of Sam Willis, her sexy chef neighbor, aren't quite enough to fill her nights. Sam is the perfect man: good to her children, a supportive friend, and he stirs up feelings Billie long ago forsook. Yet Sam is taken, and his girlfriend is beautiful and socially connected-and rich. Could he truly believe a single mother of two would be a better partner and lover? That's what the kindhearted, spitfire of a ghost in Billie's bedroom believes. And Great Aunt Emily thinks this love is worth any risk.

Set in the summer and autumn of 1938, "Body and Soul" is eighteen-year-old disabled Lilbet Marks'' very biased account of the love affair between Felix Goldfarb, a recent migrant from Hitler''s Germany, and Lilbet''s twin sister Ella. Lilbet adores Ella, but also envies her beauty and for her ability to dazzle men. Lilbet''s father Simon Marks, her eldest sister Julie, and all their friends are entranced by Felix Goldfarb''s winning blend of worldly sophistication and boyish charm. Only bookish Lilbet suspects Felix might not be all that he seems. Also, it is imperative for her physical and psychological wellbeing that Ella remains at the family home. She is determined never to be parted from her twin. Within a few months, Felix departs, leaving behind gigantic gambling debts and Ella pregnant. Though he subsequently sends for Ella, Lilbet manages through clever manipulation to keep her twin by her side. As Lilbet records the day to day events at home, her newspaper cuttings and notes explore 1938 attitudes in general, the intolerance shown at the time towards the disabled, the ambivalence she feels towards her family, her insecurities, fear of loneliness and the double-edged sword of love and envy. Though it is a young woman''s musings, the voice is appropriate to the times in which she lived. Among the press clippings, the unconfirmed reports coming out of Hitler''s Germany of anti-Jewish violence and disappearances of whole Jewish communities, and the increasing belligerence of Germany towards her neighbours add to the growing tension for this Jewish family in Melbourne of the 1930s.