Barbara
Brett’s publishing career includes stints as the editor of popular women's
magazines and publisher of Avalon Books and her own nonfiction company. Learn
more about her and her books at her website.
Time
to Remember
In the movie The Sound
of Music, Julie Andrews sings the sweet, memory-evoking song, "My
Favorite Things." Though her list is long, not one item on it is a clock.
But a little ceramic clock, just three inches in diameter, is one of my
favorite things. Five years ago, my sister gave it to me for my birthday, and it
has had a place of honor on my desk ever since. I wish I could take a picture
of it to show you, but, alas, I'm not that computer savvy, so I'll try to
describe it. It's a lovely pale yellow, and surrounding the clock's face is a
garland of buttercups and forget-me-nots. Above the garland is a Harriet
Beecher Stowe quotation: "The past, present and future are really one:
they are today."
I couldn't resist teasing my sister by asking, "Is this
to be a reminder of how fast my life is flying by?"
She laughed, and said, "No. Whatever your age, you'll
always be my little sister. I bought it because it reminded me of you. I knew
you'd love it."
She was right, of course. I did love the clock, as she knew
I would. That's the way it is with sisters: they share all our early yesterdays
and probably know us better than anyone else in the world. We grow up sharing
thoughts and secrets and hopes and dreams, and we think it will go on forever.
Sometimes it does. Tragically, sometimes it doesn't. Two years after my sister
gave me the clock, the MS that she had been courageously battling for years
finally won its brutal war.
Of course, nothing can ever really take my sister from me.
She's always with me in my heart, and in my memories of the good times we
shared and the sad times she helped me through, of the way she protected me
when we were growing up and gave me the courage to pursue my dreams. And every
day when I sit down at my desk, I look at my little clock and smile, remembering
her and how happy we were the day she gave it to me. Harriet Beecher Stowe was
right: past, present and future are
today. That means my bright, wise and loving big sister is not just a part of
my past. Her love and laughter and wisdom surround me in the present and will
be with me through every second, minute and hour of all the days to come.
Sizzle
She's the most beautiful, ruthless CEO in the nation...
He's the most dangerous corporate raider in the world.
Neither has ever lost a battle in the boardroom or the bedroom. Now they're
warring for America's biggest publishing prize.
It's the glitzy 1980s. Fortunes are being made and lost—and
made again. Wall Street is on a roll. One after another, corporations are being
gobbled up by rapacious raiders. And now Sizzle,
the most glamorous and profitable magazine in the world is up for grabs, and Marietta
Wylford is determined to let no one stand in her way. Not even the mysterious
and dangerous raider, Harrison Kendricks.
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