Nicholas Hope

Jessie Jones

Jamie Wooten

"Five Southern women, whose friendships began many years ago on their college swim team, set aside a long weekend every August to recharge those relationships. Free from husbands, kids and jobs, they meet at the same beach cottage on North Carolina's Outer Banks to catch up, laugh and meddle in each other's lives. [The play] focuses on four of those weekends and spans a period of thirty-three years... As their lives unfold and the years pass, these women increasingly rely on one another, through advice and raucous repartee, to get through the challenges (men, sex, marriage, parenting, divorce, aging) that life flings at them. And when fate throws a wrench into one of their lives in the second act, these friends, proving the enduring power of "teamwork", rally round their own with the strength and love that takes this comedy in a poignant and surprising direction."--Back cover.

The Dixie Swim Club

THE STORY: A church Christmas program spins hilariously out of control in this Southern farce about squabbling sisters, family secrets, a surly Santa, a vengeful sheep and a reluctant Elvis impersonator. It's Christmas-time in the small town of Fayro, Tex

Christmas Belles

THE STORY: In this delightful, laugh-a-minute comedy, four unique Southern women, all needing to escape the sameness of their day-to-day routines, are drawn together by Fate—and an impromptu happy hour—and decide it’s high time to reclaim the enthusiasm for life they’ve lost through the years. Randa, a perfectionist and workaholic, is struggling to cope with a surprise career derailment that, unfortunately, reveals that she has no life and no idea how to get one. Dot, still reeling from her husband’s recent demise and the loss of their plans for an idyllic retirement, faces the unsettling prospect of starting a new life from scratch—and all alone. Earthy and boisterous Marlafaye, a good ol’ Texas gal, has blasted into Savannah in the wake of losing her tom-cattin’ husband to a twenty-three-year-old dental hygienist. The strength of her desire to establish a new life is equaled only by her desire to wreak a righteous revenge on her ex. Also new to town, Jinx, a spunky ball of fire, offers her services as a much-needed life coach for these women. However, blinded by her determination and efforts to get their lives on track, she over-looks the fact that she’s the one most in need of sage advice. Over the course of six months, filled with laughter, hilarious misadventures, and the occasional liquid refreshment, these middle-aged women successfully bond and find the confidence to jumpstart their new lives. Together, they discover lasting friendships and a renewed determination to live in the moment—and most importantly, realize it’s never too late to make new old friends. So raise your glass to these strong Southern women and their fierce embrace of life and say “Cheers!” to this joyful and surprisingly touching Jones, Hope, Wooten comedy!

The Savannah Sipping Society

Dennis Yang

Mu Li

Gradual change has been a hallmark of the Chinese reform experience, and China's success in its sequential approach makes it unique among the former command economies. Since 1979, with the inception of the continuing era of reform, the Chinese economy has flourished. Growth has averaged nine percent a year, and China is now a trillion dollar economy. China has become a major trading power and the predominant target among developing countries for foreign direct investment. Despite all this, China remains poor and the reform process unfinished. This book takes its defining theme from Deng Xiaopeng's famous metaphor for gradual reform: “feeling the stones to cross the river.” How far has China progressed in fording the river? The experts who contributed to this volume tackle many aspects of that question, assessing Chinese progress in policy reform, priorities for further reform, and the research still needed to inform policymakers’ decisions.

Chinese Policy Reform at the Millennium

How Far Across the River?

Comic fireworks explode in FARCE OF HABIT, an absurdly funny Southern-fried romp that takes us back to the Reel ’Em Inn, the finest little fishing lodge in the Ozarks. The proprietor, D. Gene Wilburn, is looking forward to a peaceful weekend on the lake. But there are only two chances of that happening: slim and none. Why, for example, has his wife, Wanelle, picked these three days to white-knuckle her way through caffeine withdrawal? Why is his son Ty’s marriage to Jenna falling apart so fast? Could it have something to do with the French can-can costume Ty is wearing? How on earth would D. Gene’s feisty sister, Maxie, allow herself to get caught up in such a bizarre undercover police assignment? And that’s just his family. If this isn’t enough to thwart D. Gene’s weekend plans, he’s got a gaggle of nuns who’ve converged on the Inn, hell-bent on experiencing a nature retreat—which might be tolerable if D. Gene didn’t have a chronic fear of anything in a habit. Add to this the presence of Jock McNair, a nationally known relationship guru whose colossal ego threatens everyone’s sanity; a shy retiree anxious to cut loose and embrace his “inner caveman” and a couple of wild women who may or may not be who they claim to be. Throw in the storm of the century that’s fast bearing down on Mayhew, Arkansas, and D. Gene has no prayer of baiting a hook any time soon. Oh, and did we mention there’s an axe murderer on the loose? If you enjoy gloriously preposterous hilarity, then laughing your way through the take-no-prisoners lunacy of a Jones Hope Wooten comedy is one habit you’ll never want to break!

Farce of Habit

THE STORY: Hilarity abounds when the feisty females of Eden Falls, Georgia, decide to shake up their lives. The action in this rollicking Southern comedy takes place in SPA-DEE-DAH!, the abandoned church-turned-day-spa where this group of friends g

The Hallelujah Girls

This book is the first history in English of the Lutheran Church in Germany and Scandinavia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A period of fundamental and lasting change in the political landscape - with the separation of the old twin monarchies of Sweden-Finland and Denmark-Norway in Scandinavia (1809, 1814), and the unification of Germany (1866-71) - this was also a time of particular unease and upheaval for the Church. Attempts to emulate the spiritual community of the early Church, reform of the Church establishment, and steps taken to enlighten parishioners were almost always held back by the anomalous structural legacy of the Reformation, tradition, and parish habit, sacred and profane. However, the birth of the modern nation-state and its market economy posed a fundamental challenge to the structure and ethos of the Reformation churches, as it did to the Catholic church. The First World War deepened the crisis further: German Protestants (and the Scandinavians were not immune either, although they remained neutral), who bracketed modernity with crisis and religion with national renewal, and who saw national loyalty as a higher value than the faith, fellowship, and moral order of the Church, were swept up into the maw of a modern national war machine which threatened to wipe out Protestantism altogether.

German and Scandinavian Protestantism, 1700-1918

THE STORY: In this hilarious comedic romp, four friends have sworn to keep the promise they made on the night of their Senior Prom: to be in each other's weddings...no matter what. More than thirty years later, these Southern friends-for-life are still maki

Always a Bridesmaid

THE STORY: In this riotously funny Southern-fried comedy, the three Verdeen cousins--Gaynelle, Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette--could not have picked a worse time to throw their family reunion. Their outrageous antics have delighted local gossips in the s

The Red Velvet Cake War

In Thurber's world, sex is less a quest for pleasure or an expression of love than it is the retardation of emotion. And this is where Thurber makes her mark as an artist: She shows us how some parents would rather keep their offspring in their muck than Quirky and original, Lucy Thurber's STAY confirms the talent that the playwright demonstrated a few years back in the equally brilliant Where We're Born. But while her previous play was grounded in a rugged naturalism, STAY sparkles with magic and surrea

Dearly Beloved

This deliriously funny new Jones Hope Wooten comedy is all about that four-letter word: L-O-V-E. Under a full moon on this unpredictable night of romance, these four rollicking tales take you on an around-the-globe journey of unexpected and hilarious twists and turns: A slick, successful used-car-selling Romeo in Dallas, Texas, believes he's answering Cupid's call, only to realize too late that he's wandered into a life-changing trap set by three fed-up Juliets. On an island getaway, The Hallelujah Girls, a group of fun-loving gals from Georgia, say aloha to their wild sides as they accidentally crash a Hawaiian honeymoon in progress. These five women—and Waikiki—will never be the same! In a rooftop London bistro, sparks fly when two strangers surprisingly start to connect, only to be thwarted by a hyperactive American tourist who's determined to be the center of attention, and the unpredictable antics of an ancient waitress who wields a wicked sousaphone. And finally, in Manhattan, a man tries to battle his way out of a mid-life crisis with an ill-advised and elaborate marriage proposal. Unfortunately, it all goes wildly off-track when his caterer passes out, a tap-dancing singing telegram girl breaks into sobs rather than song, his ex-wife saunters in wearing nothing but a bathrobe and a smile, and a cowering superhero inches nervously across his twelfth-floor window ledge. So, open your heart to romantic mayhem and come join the fun! By the time the evening is over and the moon works its magic, love will conquer all and your sides will ache from laughter!

Funny Little Thing Called Love

This is the first history in English of the Lutheran church in Germany and Scandinavia from 1700 to the end of the First World War - the age of Bach and the Enlightenment, and fundamental social and political change.

Nicholas Hope

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