Showing results for "Menagerie" in Literature & Fiction

Tom shares the cramped and claustrophobic tenement home with his overbearing mother, Amanda, and painfully shy sister, Laura. He works in a warehouse but dreams of becoming a poet, escaping his mundane life. Laura hides at home, lacking the confidence to engage meaningfully with the outside world, preferring instead to lose herself in her collection of fragile glass animals. Amanda sells magazine subscriptions over the phone and commits herself to finding a match for her daughter. One day, Tom succumbs to his mother's pressure and brings home a gentleman caller....

When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger's Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus black-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she's forced to "perform" in town after town. But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival.

In The Lords of the Housetops, the enigmatic world of cats unfolds through the imaginative narratives of 13 talented authors. This thoughtfully curated collection of stories captures the complexity, charisma, and cleverness of felines, making it as delightful and intricate as the creatures themselves. (Summary by Amy Larch Gramour)

In a court ruled by the dangerous whims of King Augustus the Strong, two lives—separated by decades—are drawn into the grip of a monarch obsessed with beauty, power, and porcelain. Young sculptor Johann Kändler has one chance to rise above his modest origins: create a lifelike porcelain menagerie for the king’s growing collection. But meeting the king’s impossible standards comes at a cost. As Johann navigates the court’s shifting alliances, he finds unlikely support in a former royal mistress, Maria, and her daughter, Katharina. His talent could secure his future—or destroy it.

Amelia usually loves Christmas. But this year, it's her first one alone since losing her husband. Well... not quite alone. Thanks to the infuriatingly handsome new village vet, who's shut down the local kennels, Amelia finds herself playing reluctant host to a chaotic parade of pets: a parrot with attitude, two sulky tortoises, and a mysterious swarm of baby mice. As her home turns into a festive menagerie, Amelia ends up spending far more time with Jules the vet than she ever intended. And despite the villagers being up in arms, she's starting to enjoy his company far too much.

Del Roosevelt, Champion of the Midden. The first creature smart enough, strong enough, fast enough to advance in who knows how long, immediately finds himself in jail. Well, technically, it's a dungeon, but he's spent enough time putting people behind bars to recognize when he ends up there, too. Now, our little furry force needs to work the system and escape to Ratopolis with the one ally he has left.

Returning home from Germany eight years after commiting a brutal murder that remains unsolved, an American soldier erupts into an uncontrollable rage when he discovers his ex-wife has remarried and his child is being raised by a stranger, and embarks on a diabolical scheme of revenge.

The Glass Menagerie is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mother, and his mentally fragile sister, Laura.

In 1986, humanity experienced the Reaping - a nationwide slaughter of six-year-old children by their parents - one of the country's most horrific tragedies. From that day forward, the world would never trust another cryptid. Now, Delilah Marlow and a rogue group of cryptids are on the run. One morning, Delilah wakes up with dried blood all over her hands. Though she has no memory of it, she obviously went somewhere - and possibly killed someone - in her sleep. More killings follow, and there is something connecting her victims - perhaps something as dangerous as another Reaping.

In the ancient nerkshire town of gryme, a girl stands watching. She observes an old zookeeper approach and enter his dilapidated realm. She has been waiting for him. With a heavy heart, she recalls the joy and excitement of days gone by when, as a small child, she had been taken to the zoo by her father, to see the great wonders of the natural world. What awaits her now, however, is far from natural.…

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were about to have a quiet afternoon in Schönbrunn Zoo during their stay in Vienna, but instead they find a murder victim in the reptile house. And one thing is certain the crocodiles are not the killers they are looking for.

Join this merry menagerie of friends as they try to save the world. Or mess it up more. Whatever we decide that session.