The Lady in Gold

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The spellbinding story, part fairy tale, part suspense, of Gustav Klimt'sPortrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, one of the most emblematic portraits of its time; of the beautiful, seductive Viennese Jewish salon hostess who sat for it; the notorious artist who painted it; the now vanished turn-of-the-century Vienna that shaped it; and the strange twisted fate that befell it.

REVIEW
The great Austrian artist Gustav Klimt painted sensually in a repressed age, and Adele Bloch-Bauer may be his most famous subject. Her story was almost lost, though, as the Nazis rewrote artistic history. Coleen Marlo's voice captures the romance, drama, and emotion, along with the wry ironies, of a fascinating story. This story of a painting is also the story of women's lives, Adolf Hitler's failed artistic career, the Nazi treatment of Jews, and the efforts to reclaim the painting after WWII. It involves such famous people as Mark Twain, Hedy Lamarr, and Sigmund Freud. Art lovers and history buffs alike will want to hear about the famous disputed portrait. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2013]
Review Excerpts

"O'Connor resurrects fascinating individuals and tells a many-faceted, intensely affecting, and profoundly revelatory tale of the inciting power of art and the unending need for justice." ---Booklist Starred Review

"This is an essential title for [listeners] interested in art history, European history, and Judaic studies." ---Library Journal Starred Review

"Art-history fans will love the deep details of the painting, and history buffs will revel in the facts O'Connor includes as she exposes a deeper picture of World War II." ---Kirkus

Now, Voyager

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“Don’t let’s ask for the moon! We have the stars!” The film that concludes with Bette Davis’s famous words, reaffirmed Davis’s own stardom and changed the way Americans smoked cigarettes. But few contemporary fans of this story of a woman’s self-realization know its source. Olive Higgins Prouty’s 1941 novel Now, Voyager provides an even richer, deeper portrait of the inner life of its protagonist and the society she inhabits. Viewed from a distance of more than 60 years, it also offers fresh and quietly radical takes on psychiatric treatment, traditional family life, female desire, and women’s agency.

Boston blueblood Charlotte Vale has led an unhappy, sheltered life. Lonely, dowdy, repressed, and pushing 40, Charlotte finds salvation at a sanitarium, where she undergoes an emotional and physical transformation. After her extreme makeover, the new Charlotte tests her mettle by embarking on a cruise—and finds herself in a torrid love affair with a married man.

A World Without Cancer

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A provocative and surprising investigation into the ways that profit, personalities, and politics obstruct real progress in the war on cancer—and one doctor’s passionate call to action
As a diagnostic radiologist who has watched patients, friends, and family suffer with and die from cancer—and who was deeply affected by the enraged husband of one particular patient—Dr. Margaret I. Cuomo has been inspired to seek out new strategies for waging a smarter war on cancer.
About 1.6 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed a year, and more than 1,500 people die each day. We’ve been asked to accept the disappointing strategy to “manage cancer as a chronic disease.” We’ve allowed pharmaceutical companies to position as breakthroughs cancer drugs that extend life by mere weeks and may cost $100,000 for a single course of treatment. Where is the bold leadership that will transform our system from treatment to prevention? Have we forgotten the mission of the National Cancer Act of 1971 to “conquer cancer?”
Through an analysis of more than forty years of medical evidence and interviews with the top cancer researchers, drug company executives, and health policy advisers, Dr. Cuomo reveals the intriguing answers to these questions. She shows us how all cancer stakeholders—the pharmaceutical industry, the government, physicians, and concerned citizens—can change the way we view and fight cancer in this country.