A Curious History of Cats

A Curious History of Cats
Author: Madeline Swan
Publisher: Little Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2005
Genre: Cats
ISBN: 9781904435488

This is a biography of the cat, beginning in ancient times when it was revered as a goddess and following it as it emerges as enigma, playmate and companion. There are also tales of great and famous cat-lovers throughout history and literature, such as Dr. Johnson, Horace Walpole (and his noble Maida) or Sir Walter Scott, whose own constant companion waited for a snap of his master’s fingers to rise and lay his head on his knee. The book is illustrated throughout with noteworthy and intriguing images of cats through history including ancient egyptian tomb paintings and medieval engravings and drawings.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Author: Roald Dahl
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2000-05-22
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1101652950

Seven superb short stories from the bestselling author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG! The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is coming soon to Netflix! Meet the boy who can talk to animals and the man who can see with his eyes closed. And find out about the treasure buried deep underground. A clever mix of fact and fiction, this collection also includes how master storyteller Roald Dahl became a writer. With Roald Dahl, you can never be sure where reality ends and fantasy begins. "All the tales are entrancing inventions." —Publishers Weekly

The Curious Swan

The Curious Swan
Author: Kenzie Hart
Publisher: Eclipse Publishing
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2019-10-12
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1946793787

It was a simple moment at the beginning of summer. Klara was sprawled out on the couch, flipping through her favorite novel and wafting away her great-grandmother’s smoke when all of a sudden, she hastily closed the book and spoke. “Sometimes I think Father just doesn’t understand that I’m not a child anymore. But the truth is, I’m not. I’m growing into a woman, and a sophisticated one at that. And just because I love children’s literature and the worlds within my novels, doesn’t mean I’m detached from the real one,” she huffed. Cordelia had smiled to herself. Klara’s world was by no means small, but it was simple and had always been filled with characters from novels—epic romances spanning the seas, forests filled with honey bears, and skies with children who could fly. Their estate, and Klara’s mind, has always been filled with stories. In many ways, her life was as open as a partially-read book. Ready for the pages to be turned, in any direction and at any speed. And that was what Cordelia wished for in that moment. That the pages would start turning for Klara. That Klara would start living her own story. But that wish was made in naivety. It was made before Edward came into Klara’s life. Before Klara’s father returned to the estate. Before Klara’s mother’s death rose back into her memory. And before Cordelia herself found her great-granddaughter at her own birthday party, heaved over in a pile, broken. Broken by a boy. Broken by her father. And broken from within. It’s amazing how only a few short months can change everything for a young girl. Cordelia glanced back at Klara, the youthful and glowing girl, still untainted by life. By men. But we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves, so let’s return to the beginning. To where it all started. And that, was with Eddie.

Swan Song

Swan Song
Author: Robert McCammon
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 928
Release: 2016-07-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1501131427

In a nightmarish, post-holocaust world, an ancient evil roams a devastated America, gathering the forces of human greed and madness, searching for a child named Swan who possesses the gift of life.

The Ice Swan

The Ice Swan
Author: J'nell Ciesielski
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2021-07-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0785248439

Amid the violent last days of the glittering Russian monarchy, a princess on the run finds her heart where she least expects it. 1917, Petrograd. Fleeing the murderous flames of the Russian Revolution, Princess Svetlana Dalsky hopes to find safety in Paris with her mother and sister. But the city is buckling under the weight of the Great War, and the Bolsheviks will not rest until they have erased every Russian aristocrat from memory. Svetlana and her family are forced into hiding in Paris’s underbelly, with little to their name but the jewels they sewed into their corsets before their terrifying escape. Born the second son of a Scottish duke, the only title Wynn MacCallan cares for is that of surgeon. Putting his talents with a scalpel to good use in the hospitals in Paris, Wynn pushes the boundaries of medical science to give his patients the best care possible. After treating Svetlana for a minor injury, he is pulled into a world of decaying imperial glitter. Intrigued by this mysterious, cold, and beautiful woman, Wynn follows Svetlana to an underground Russian club where drink, dance, and questionable dealings collide on bubbles of vodka. Out of money and options, Svetlana agrees to a marriage of convenience with the handsome and brilliant Wynn, who will protect her and pay off her family’s debts. It’s the right thing for a good man to do, but Wynn cannot help hoping the marriage will turn into one of true affection. When Wynn’s life takes an unexpected turn, so does Svetlana’s—and soon Paris becomes as dangerous as Petrograd. And as the Bolsheviks chase them to Scotland, Wynn and Svetlana begin to wonder if they will ever be able to outrun the love they are beginning to feel for one another. “The Ice Swan is a ray of light in the middle of a Europe that was sinking into darkness. Ciesielski’s talent for storytelling from the heart is a feast for the readers’ eyes.” —Mario Escobar, international bestselling author of Remember Me and Children of the Stars Adventurous World War I historical romance For fans of Kate Quinn, Beatriz Williams, and Aimie K. Runyan Full-length, stand-alone novel (approx. 120,000 words) Includes discussion questions for book clubs

Wild Swans

Wild Swans
Author: Jung Chang
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2008-06-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1439106495

The story of three generations in twentieth-century China that blends the intimacy of memoir and the panoramic sweep of eyewitness history—a bestselling classic in thirty languages with more than ten million copies sold around the world, now with a new introduction from the author. An engrossing record of Mao’s impact on China, an unusual window on the female experience in the modern world, and an inspiring tale of courage and love, Jung Chang describes the extraordinary lives and experiences of her family members: her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine; her mother’s struggles as a young idealistic Communist; and her parents’ experience as members of the Communist elite and their ordeal during the Cultural Revolution. Chang was a Red Guard briefly at the age of fourteen, then worked as a peasant, a “barefoot doctor,” a steelworker, and an electrician. As the story of each generation unfolds, Chang captures in gripping, moving—and ultimately uplifting—detail the cycles of violent drama visited on her own family and millions of others caught in the whirlwind of history.

The Black Swan of Paris

The Black Swan of Paris
Author: Karen Robards
Publisher: MIRA
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2020-06-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1488055335

An exquisite WWII novel illuminating the strength of three women in occupied Paris, for fans of The Nightingale, The Alice Network and The Lost Girls of Paris. "A truly outstanding novel...reminds us of the power of love, hope and courage."—Heather Morris, #1 bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz Paris, 1944 Celebrated singer Genevieve Dumont is both a star and a smokescreen. An unwilling darling of the Nazis, the chanteuse’s position of privilege allows her to go undetected as an ally to the resistance. When her estranged mother, Lillian de Rocheford, is captured by Nazis, Genevieve knows it won’t be long before the Gestapo succeeds in torturing information out of Lillian that will derail the upcoming allied invasion. The resistance movement is tasked with silencing her by any means necessary—including assassination. But Genevieve refuses to let her mother become yet one more victim of the war. Reuniting with her long-lost sister, she must find a way to navigate the perilous cross-currents of Occupied France undetected—and in time to save Lillian’s life. In this heart-wrenching novel, bestselling author Karen Robards showcases the extraordinary lengths one goes to save their family from a German prison. A web of spies, the resistance and a vivid portrayal of Paris in wartime.

Rarities of These Lands

Rarities of These Lands
Author: Claudia Swan
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2021-03-09
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0691213526

A vivid account of Dutch seventeenth-century art and material culture against the backdrop of the geopolitics of the early modern world The seventeenth century witnessed a great flourishing of Dutch trade and culture. Over the course of the first half of the century, the northern Netherlands secured independence from the Spanish crown, and the nascent republic sought to establish its might in global trade, often by way of diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim powers. Central to the political and cultural identity of the Dutch Republic were curious foreign goods the Dutch called "rarities." Rarities of These Lands explores how these rarities were obtained, exchanged, stolen, valued, and collected, tracing their global trajectories and considering their role within the politics of the new state. Claudia Swan’s insightful, engaging analysis offers a novel and compelling account of how the Dutch Republic turned foreign objects into expressions of its national self-conception. Rarities of These Lands traces key elements of the formation of the Dutch Republic—artistic and colonialist ventures alike—offering new perspectives on this momentous period in the history of the Netherlands and its material culture.

Black Swan Green

Black Swan Green
Author: David Mitchell
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2006-04-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 158836528X

By the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize Selected by Time as One of the Ten Best Books of the Year | A New York Times Notable Book | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post Book World, The Christian Science Monitor, Rocky Mountain News, and Kirkus Reviews | A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist | Winner of the ALA Alex Award | Finalist for the Costa Novel Award From award-winning writer David Mitchell comes a sinewy, meditative novel of boyhood on the cusp of adulthood and the old on the cusp of the new. Black Swan Green tracks a single year in what is, for thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor, the sleepiest village in muddiest Worcestershire in a dying Cold War England, 1982. But the thirteen chapters, each a short story in its own right, create an exquisitely observed world that is anything but sleepy. A world of Kissingeresque realpolitik enacted in boys’ games on a frozen lake; of “nightcreeping” through the summer backyards of strangers; of the tabloid-fueled thrills of the Falklands War and its human toll; of the cruel, luscious Dawn Madden and her power-hungry boyfriend, Ross Wilcox; of a certain Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck, an elderly bohemian emigré who is both more and less than she appears; of Jason’s search to replace his dead grandfather’s irreplaceable smashed watch before the crime is discovered; of first cigarettes, first kisses, first Duran Duran LPs, and first deaths; of Margaret Thatcher’s recession; of Gypsies camping in the woods and the hysteria they inspire; and, even closer to home, of a slow-motion divorce in four seasons. Pointed, funny, profound, left-field, elegiac, and painted with the stuff of life, Black Swan Green is David Mitchell’s subtlest and most effective achievement to date. Praise for Black Swan Green “[David Mitchell has created] one of the most endearing, smart, and funny young narrators ever to rise up from the pages of a novel. . . . The always fresh and brilliant writing will carry readers back to their own childhoods. . . . This enchanting novel makes us remember exactly what it was like.”—The Boston Globe “[David Mitchell is a] prodigiously daring and imaginative young writer. . . . As in the works of Thomas Pynchon and Herman Melville, one feels the roof of the narrative lifted off and oneself in thrall.”—Time

Swans of the World

Swans of the World
Author: Alice L. Price
Publisher: Council Oak Books
Total Pages: 204
Release: 1994
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 9780933031814

Fully illustrated with swans of legend, art, nature and the imagination, Swans of the World is a treasury and a treasure as well.