A Strange Beginning

A Strange Beginning
Author: Gretta Curran Browne
Publisher:
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2017-11-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780995573352

He was later to become known as "The most beautiful and most famous man in England" - but not yet... We join George Gordon, aged 10, living a miserable life with his manic Scottish mother in rented rooms above a shop in Aberdeen; unaware of his true surname, or that his true heritage is with the English aristocracy - soon to come to claim him.

Strange Angels

Strange Angels
Author: Lili St. Crow
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2009
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9781595142511

Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called the touch. When her dad turns up dead--but still walking--Dru knows she's next. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever is hunting her?

Another Kind of Light

Another Kind of Light
Author: Gretta Curran Browne
Publisher:
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2018-06-27
Genre:
ISBN: 9781912598441

"Good night-or rather, morning. It is four, and the dawn gleams over the Grand Canal and unshadows the Rialto. I must to bed; up all night - but, 'it's life, though, damme, it's life!' "An Englishman in Italy, Lord Byron's life in Venice is full of fun, laughter, and devil-may-care romancing - until he meets his last and truest love, the eighteen-year-old Teresa Gamba Guiccioli, for whom he risks everything, even the danger to his own life; and moreso, his own pride.Every part of Venice is reflected in his poetry - walking across the bridge that connects the Doge's Palace to the prisons from which none returned, he invented the name that made it famous all over the world - "The Bridge of Sighs" - because of the sad sighs, he believed, that those condemned prisoners would release on seeing Venice and freedom for the last time.But it is Byron's letters back home to England that bring Venice and its people to life with irresistible high spirits, bewitching and picturesque, with rumours and jokes and flippant with effervescent self-ridicule, occasionally solemn, but not often."He [BYRON} is the most enjoyable letter-writer in the world." -- Elizabeth, Countess of Longford.

A Series of Unfortunate Events 01. The Bad Beginning

A Series of Unfortunate Events 01. The Bad Beginning
Author: Lemony Snicket
Publisher: Egmont Books (UK)
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2012-09-01
Genre: Baudelaire, Klaus (Fictitious character)
ISBN: 9781405266062

There is nothing to be found in the pages of A Series of Unfortunate Events but misery and despair. You still have time to choose another international best-seller to read. But if you must know what unpleasantries befall the charming and clever Baudelaire children read on . . . In The Bad Beginning the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune and cold porridge for breakfast. Then again, why trouble yourself with the unfortunate resolutions? With 5 million copies sold in the UK alone, one might consider Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events to make him one of the most successful children’s authors of the past decade. We, however, consider these miserable so-called adventure stories and the Hollywood film starring Jim Carrey that accompanied the books for children as nothing more than a dreadful mistake.

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance
Author: Foz Meadows
Publisher: Tor Books
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2022-07-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250829143

“Many a reader longing for a sense of homecoming in the realm of romantic fantasy will find it in A Strange and Stubborn Endurance.”—Jacqueline Carey “Stolen me? As soon to say a caged bird can be stolen by the sky.” Velasin vin Aaro never planned to marry at all, let alone a girl from neighboring Tithena. When an ugly confrontation reveals his preference for men, Vel fears he’s ruined the diplomatic union before it can even begin. But while his family is ready to disown him, the Tithenai envoy has a different solution: for Vel to marry his former intended’s brother instead. Caethari Aeduria always knew he might end up in a political marriage, but his sudden betrothal to a man from Ralia, where such relationships are forbidden, comes as a shock. With an unknown faction willing to kill to end their new alliance, Vel and Cae have no choice but to trust each other. Survival is one thing, but love—as both will learn—is quite another. Byzantine politics, lush sexual energy, and a queer love story that is by turns sweet and sultry, Foz Meadows' A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is an exploration of gender, identity, and self-worth. It is a book that will live in your heart long after you turn the last page. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Dark Water

The Dark Water
Author: David Pirie
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2013-05-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1480405590

The detective team of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Joseph Bell star in this “ingenious” historical mystery (The New York Times Book Review). As many fans of Sherlock Holmes know, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle found inspiration for the great fictional detective in a brilliant Scottish surgeon named Joseph Bell. In an era when science was not often considered in the course of criminal investigations, Bell’s emphasis on observation and deduction made him a pioneer in forensics. In The Dark Water, Holmes’s creator joins forces with Dr. Bell to take on Victorian vagabonds, criminal masterminds, and all manner of mysteries. The pair relentlessly pursues the vicious killer Thomas Neill Cream—and visits a sleepy seaside town where a seventeenth-century legend known as the Dunwich witch has taken on new life. With “a gripping plot and psychologically sophisticated characters” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Dark Water is a thrilling, atmospheric adventure for historical mystery lovers, offering “an intellectual treat and a downright guilty pleasure” (The Washington Post).

The Book of Strange New Things

The Book of Strange New Things
Author: Michel Faber
Publisher: Hogarth
Total Pages: 466
Release: 2014-10-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0553418858

A monumental, genre-defying novel that David Mitchell calls "Michel Faber’s second masterpiece," The Book of Strange New Things is a masterwork from a writer in full command of his many talents. It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter’s teachings—his Bible is their “book of strange new things.” But Peter is rattled when Bea’s letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea’s faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter. Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us. Marked by the same bravura storytelling and precise language that made The Crimson Petal and the White such an international success, The Book of Strange New Things is extraordinary, mesmerizing, and replete with emotional complexity and genuine pathos.

The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor

The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor
Author: Amy Alznauer
Publisher: Abrams
Total Pages: 60
Release: 2020-07-21
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1592703437

“I intend to stand firm and let the peacocks multiply, for I am sure that, in the end, the last word will be theirs.” —Flannery O’Connor When she was young, the writer Flannery O’Connor was captivated by the chickens in her yard. She’d watch their wings flap, their beaks peck, and their eyes glint. At age six, her life was forever changed when she and a chicken she had been training to walk forwards and backwards were featured in the Pathé News, and she realized that people want to see what is odd and strange in life. But while she loved birds of all varieties and kept several species around the house, it was the peacocks that came to dominate her life. Written by Amy Alznauer with devotional attention to all things odd and illustrated in radiant paint by Ping Zhu, The Strange Birds of Flannery O’Connor explores the beginnings of one author’s lifelong obsession. Amy Alznauer lives in Chicago with her husband, two children, a dog, a parakeet, sometimes chicks, and a part-time fish, but, as of today, no elephants or peacocks. Ping Zhu is a freelance illustrator who has worked with clients big and small, won some awards based on the work she did for aforementioned clients, attracted new clients with shiny awards, and is hoping to maintain her livelihood in Brooklyn by repeating that cycle.

Our Castle by the Sea

Our Castle by the Sea
Author: Lucy Strange
Publisher: Chicken House
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2019-01-03
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1911490524

England is at war. Growing up in a lighthouse, eleven-year old Pet's world has been one of storms, secret tunnels and stories about sea monsters. But now the clifftops are a terrifying battleground, and her family is torn apart ...

Winter Garden

Winter Garden
Author: Kristin Hannah
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2010-02-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429938463

Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn't know her mother? From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes Kristin Hannah's powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past. Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya's life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother's life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.