Mehlman uses his mother's concentration-camp number to gamble on, a despairing joke of a way to show that misfortune is always with us.

ECONOMIST: Novels from the Netherlands

By March 2009 they were down to a despairing 13 times, despite a much more minor downturn in the real market.

FORBES: Magazine Article

By turns playful and fierce, Packer alters mercurially from a "woman warrior" like Joan of Arc to a bashful young Juliet to a despairing Lady Macbeth, to name but a few of the most familiar.

WSJ: Review: Captivating, eloquent 'Women of Will'