The Ramblings of a Merry Heart

The Ramblings of a Merry Heart
Author: Harold William Marihart
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 183
Release: 2013-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1475997175

Although his earliest days were spent in a town, author Harold William Marihart had the dream of one day becoming a farmer. From very young age, he enjoyed helping his grandparents and others with the chores on their farms. In The Ramblings of a Merry Heart, Marihart narrates these and many other stories from his eighty years. In this memoir, he shares some of the highlights of his life-his birth in small-town Minnesota in 1931, being raised as an only child, attending school, helping with farm chores, earning money as a produce "salesman" at age seven, buying his first car, becoming a sailor, meeting his wife, navigating parenthood, and realizing his dream of owning a ranch. Including photos, The Ramblings of a Merry Heart includes descriptions of true events and anecdotes from Marihart's long life. It is eighty years of love and laughter bound into one book.

Merry Hall

Merry Hall
Author: Beverley Nichols
Publisher: Timber Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1998-03-30
Genre: Gardening
ISBN: 9780881924176

First in a trilogy, Merry Hall is the account of the restoration of a house and garden in post-war England. Though Mr. Nichols's horticultural undertaking is serious, his writing is high-spirited, riotously funny, and, at times, deliciously malicious.

Esther and Her Elusive God

Esther and Her Elusive God
Author: John Anthony Dunne
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2014-02-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1620327848

What if the way the book of Esther has been taught to us in church and retold to us in films, cartoons, and romance novels has missed the original point of the story? Far from being models of piety and devotion, Esther and Mordecai seem indifferent to the faith of their ancestors. How then did this story become part of the Bible and gain the broad acceptance that it has? If the church should not neglect the story, how should it be read? Esther and Her Elusive God calls Christians to avoid the common attempts to make Esther more palatable and theological, and to reclaim this secular story as Scripture. Readers will be encouraged to see in Esther a profound message of God's grace and faithfulness to his wayward people.

Burning Sky

Burning Sky
Author: Lori Benton
Publisher: WaterBrook
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2013-08-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0307731472

A Christy award-winning novel about a woman caught between two worlds, and the lengths she goes to find where she belongs Abducted by Mohawk Indians at fourteen and renamed Burning Sky, Willa Obenchain is driven to return to her family’s New York frontier homestead after many years building a life with the People. At the boundary of her father’s property, Willa discovers a wounded Scotsman lying in her path. Feeling obliged to nurse his injuries, the two quickly find much has changed during her twelve-year absence: her childhood home is in disrepair, her missing parents are rumored to be Tories, and the young Richard Waring she once admired is now grown into a man twisted by the horrors of war and claiming ownership of the Obenchain land. When her Mohawk brother arrives and questions her place in the white world, the cultural divide blurs Willa’s vision. Can she follow Tames-His-Horse back to the People now that she is no longer Burning Sky? And what about Neil MacGregor, the kind and loyal botanist who does not fit into in her plan for a solitary life, yet is now helping her revive her farm? In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, strong feelings against “savages” abound in the nearby village of Shiloh, leaving Willa’s safety unsure. As tensions rise, challenging her shielded heart, the woman called Burning Sky must find a new courage--the courage to again risk embracing the blessings the Almighty wants to bestow. Is she brave enough to love again?

Hidden Among the Stars

Hidden Among the Stars
Author: Melanie Dobson
Publisher: NavPress
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2018-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1496417356

From the award-winning author of Catching the Wind, which Publishers Weekly called “unforgettable” and a “must-read,” comes another gripping time-slip novel about hidden treasure, a castle, and ordinary people who resisted evil in their own extraordinary way. The year is 1938, and as Hitler’s troops sweep into Vienna, Austrian Max Dornbach promises to help his Jewish friends hide their most valuable possessions from the Nazis, smuggling them to his family’s summer estate near the picturesque village of Hallstatt. He enlists the help of Annika Knopf, his childhood friend and the caretaker’s daughter, who is eager to help the man she’s loved her entire life. But when Max also brings Luzia Weiss, a young Jewish woman, to hide at the castle, it complicates Annika’s feelings and puts their entire plan—even their very lives—in jeopardy. Especially when the Nazis come to scour the estate and find both Luzia and the treasure gone. Eighty years later, Callie Randall is mostly content with her quiet life, running a bookstore with her sister and reaching out into the world through her blog. Then she finds a cryptic list in an old edition of Bambi that connects her to Annika’s story . . . and maybe to the long-buried story of a dear friend. As she digs into the past, Callie must risk venturing outside the safe world she’s built for a chance at answers, adventure, and maybe even new love.

Stones for Bread

Stones for Bread
Author: Christa Parrish
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2013-11-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1401689027

A solitary artisan. A legacy of bread-baking. And one secret that could collapse her entire identity. Liesl McNamara’s life can be described in one word: bread. From her earliest memory, her mother and grandmother passed down the mystery of baking and the importance of this deceptively simple food. And now, as the owner of Wild Rise bake house, Liesl spends every day up to her elbows in dough, nourishing and perfecting her craft. But the simple life she has cultivated is becoming quite complicated. Her head baker brings his troubled grandson into the bakeshop as an apprentice. Her waitress submits Liesl’s recipes to a popular cable cooking show. And the man who delivers her flour—a single father with strange culinary habits—seems determined to win Liesl’s affection. When Wild Rise is featured on television, her quiet existence appears a thing of the past. And then a phone call from a woman claiming to be her half-sister forces Liesl to confront long-hidden secrets in her family’s past. With her precious heritage crumbling around her, the baker must make a choice: allow herself to be buried in detachment and remorse, or take a leap of faith into a new life. Filled with both spiritual and literal nourishment, Stones for Bread provides a feast for the senses from award-winning author Christa Parrish. "A quietly beautiful tale about learning how to accept the past and how to let go of the parts that tie you down." —RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars, TOP PICK!