Blackberry and Wild Rose

Blackberry and Wild Rose
Author: Sonia Velton
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2019-05-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1538507749

Set in eighteenth-century Spitalfields, London, Blackberry and Wild Rose is the rich and atmospheric tale of a household of Huguenot silk weavers as the pursuit of the perfect silk design leads them all into ambition, love, and betrayal. When Esther Thorel, wife of a master silk weaver, rescues Sara Kemp from a brothel, she thinks she is doing God’s will, but her good deed is not returned. Sara quickly realizes that the Thorel household is built on hypocrisy and lies and soon tires of the drudgery of life as Esther’s new lady’s maid. As the two women’s relationship becomes increasingly fractious, Sara resolves to find out what it is that so preoccupies her mistress ... Esther has long yearned to be a silk designer. When her early watercolors are dismissed by her husband, Elias, as the daubs of a foolish girl, she continues her attempts in secret. It may have been that none of them would ever have become actual silks, were it not for the presence of the extraordinarily talented Bisby Lambert in the Thorel household. Brought in by Elias to weave his master piece on the Thorel’s loom in the attic of their house in Spitalfields, the strange cadence of the loom as Bisby works is like a siren call to Esther. The minute she first sets foot in the garret and sees Bisby Lambert at his loom marks the beginning of Blackberry and Wild Rose, the most exquisite silk design Spitalfields has ever seen, and the end of the Thorel household’s veneer of perfection. As unrest among the journeyman silk weavers boils over into riot and rebellion, it leads to a devastating day of reckoning between Esther and Sara.

Wild Rose

Wild Rose
Author: Ann Blackman
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2005-06-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 158836481X

For sheer bravado and style, no woman in the North or South rivaled the Civil War heroine Rose O’Neale Greenhow. Fearless spy for the Confederacy, glittering Washington hostess, legendary beauty and lover, Rose Greenhow risked everything for the cause she valued more than life itself. In this superb portrait, biographer Ann Blackman tells the surprising true story of a unique woman in history. “I am a Southern woman, born with revolutionary blood in my veins,” Rose once declared–and that fiery spirit would plunge her into the center of power and the thick of adventure. Born into a slave-holding family, Rose moved to Washington, D.C., as a young woman and soon established herself as one of the capital’s most charming and influential socialites, an intimate of John C. Calhoun, James Buchanan, and Dolley Madison. She married well, bore eight children and buried five, and, at the height of the Gold Rush, accompanied her husband Robert Greenhow to San Francisco. Widowed after Robert died in a tragic accident, Rose became notorious in Washington for her daring–and numerous–love affairs. But with the outbreak of the Civil War, everything changed. Overnight, Rose Greenhow, fashionable hostess, become Rose Greenhow, intrepid spy. As Blackman reveals, deadly accurate intelligence that Rose supplied to General Pierre G. T. Beauregard written in a fascinating code (the code duplicated in the background on the jacket of this book). Her message to Beauregard turned the tide in the first Battle of Bull Run, and was a brilliant piece of spycraft that eventually led to her arrest by Allan Pinkerton and imprisonment with her young daughter. Indomitable, Rose regained her freedom and, as the war reached a crisis, journeyed to Europe to plead the Confederate cause at the royal courts of England and France. Drawing on newly discovered diaries and a rich trove of contemporary accounts, Blackman has fashioned a thrilling, intimate narrative that reads like a novel. Wild Rose is an unforgettable rendering of an astonishing woman, a book that will stand with the finest Civil War biographies.

The Image of Her

The Image of Her
Author: Sonia Velton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022-07-21
Genre: Accidents
ISBN: 9781529406535

'TOTALLY ORIGINAL' Elly Griffiths 'A BRILLIANT BOOK' Fiona Erskine 'A COMPULSIVE PAGETURNER' Awais Khan Stella and Connie have never met and never will. So why is Stella stalking Connie's every move on social media? Stella lives with her mother, a smothering narcissist. Her world has shrunk since the terrible accident that left her a shut-in. Her days are broken up by deliveries from a courier that she always returns and by the irresistible urge to watch the life of a stranger - beautiful Connie - unfold on social media. But why is she so drawn to a woman she has never met? And what caused the accident she doesn't want to speak about? Connie is an expat living in Dubai with her partner, Mark, and their two children. On the face of it she wants for nothing and yet she fears that her husband is turning into a stranger. When she finds herself drawn into the lives of the local domestic helpers, she discovers that there are dark secrets in this glittering city. Two women with nothing in common except a twist of fate. What happens when their lives collide? *************** PRAISE FOR THE IMAGE OF HER 'A triumph' Fiona Mitchell 'A fascinating, gripping book' Sophie van Llewyn 'An eye-opener, and an evocative glimpse into two lives' Promoting Crime Fiction 'Compelling characters and a plot that just won't let you stop reading' Frances Quinn 'A gripping story about friendship, self-worth and the versions of ourselves we show the world' Woman's Own

Wild Edibles

Wild Edibles
Author: Sergei Boutenko
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2013-07-16
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1583946276

Sergei Boutenko’s groundbreaking field guide to the art and science of foraging and preparing wild edible plants—includes 300+ photos of 60 plants **An Amazon Editors' Pick -- Best Cookbooks, Food & Wine** In Wild Edibles, Sergei Boutenko’s bestselling work on the art and science of live-food wildcrafting, readers will learn how to safely identify 60 delicious trailside weeds, herbs, fruits, and greens growing all around us. It also outlines basic rules for safe wild-food foraging and discusses poisonous plants, plant identification protocols, gathering etiquette, and conservation strategies. But the journey doesn’t end there. Rooted in Boutenko’s robust foraging experience, botanary science, and fresh dietary perspectives, this practical companion gives hikers, backpackers, raw foodists, gardeners, chefs, foodies, DIYers, survivalists, and off-the-grid enthusiasts the necessary tools to transform their simple harvests into safe, delicious, and nutrient-rich recipes. Special features include: 60 edible plant descriptions, most of them found worldwide 300+ color photos that make plant identification easy and safe 67 tasty, high-nutrient plant-based recipes, including green smoothies, salads and salad dressings, spreads and crackers, main courses, juices, and sweets For the wildly adventurous and playfully rebellious, Wild Edibles will expand your food options, providing readers with the inspiration and essential know-how to live more healthy (yet thrifty), more satisfying (yet sustainable) lives.

The Queen of Paris

The Queen of Paris
Author: Pamela Binnings Ewen
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2020-04-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1982546948

Legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel is revered for her sophisticated style—the iconic little black dress—and famed for her intoxicating perfume Chanel No. 5. Yet behind the public persona is a complicated woman of intrigue, shadowed by mysterious rumors. The Queen of Paris, the new novel from award-winning author Pamela Binnings Ewen, is fiction based on facts, some uncovered only within the past few years, and vividly imagines the hidden life of Chanel during the four years of Nazi occupation in Paris in the midst of WWII. Coco Chanel could be cheerful, lighthearted, and generous; she also could be ruthless, manipulative, even cruel. Against the winds of war, with the Wehrmacht marching down the Champs-Élysées, Chanel finds herself residing alongside the Reich’s High Command in the Hotel Ritz. Surrounded by the enemy, Chanel wages a private war of her own to wrestle full control of her perfume company from the hands of her Jewish business partner, Pierre Wertheimer. With anti-Semitism on the rise, he has escaped to the United States with the confidential formula for Chanel No. 5. Distrustful of his intentions to set up production on the outskirts of New York City, Chanel fights to seize ownership. The House of Chanel shall not fall. While Chanel struggles to keep her livelihood intact, Paris sinks under the iron fist of German rule. Chanel—a woman made of sparkling granite—will do anything to survive. She will even agree to collaborate with the Nazis in order to protect her darkest secrets. When she is covertly recruited by Germany to spy for the Reich, she becomes Agent F-7124, code name: Westminster. But why? And to what lengths will she go to keep her stormy past from haunting her future?

A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat

A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat
Author: Emily Jenkins
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
Total Pages: 45
Release: 2015-01-27
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0375987711

A New York Times Best Illustrated Book From highly acclaimed author Jenkins and Caldecott Medal–winning illustrator Blackall comes a fascinating picture book in which four families, in four different cities, over four centuries, make the same delicious dessert: blackberry fool. This richly detailed book ingeniously shows how food, technology, and even families have changed throughout American history. In 1710, a girl and her mother in Lyme, England, prepare a blackberry fool, picking wild blackberries and beating cream from their cow with a bundle of twigs. The same dessert is prepared by an enslaved girl and her mother in 1810 in Charleston, South Carolina; by a mother and daughter in 1910 in Boston; and finally by a boy and his father in present-day San Diego. Kids and parents alike will delight in discovering the differences in daily life over the course of four centuries. Includes a recipe for blackberry fool and notes from the author and illustrator about their research.

Dr. Kidd's Guide to Herbal Dog Care

Dr. Kidd's Guide to Herbal Dog Care
Author: Randy Kidd
Publisher: Storey Publishing
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2000-01-01
Genre: Pets
ISBN: 1580171893

Holistic veterinarian Dr. Randy Kidd explains how herbs can be used in the care of dogs. Includes chapters on common dog ailments and how to address them. Illustrations.

The Asylum

The Asylum
Author: Karen Coles
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2021-04-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1787395162

Perfect for fans of The Familiars and The Glass House, this is the intoxicating story of one woman's fight for freedom in Victorian England. ????? 'Outstanding gothic psychological thriller!' ????? 'Fantastic character and fantastic story. Buy this book' ????? 'Beautifully written and incredibly addictive' ????? 'I can’t stop thinking about it' ___________ WHO IS MAUD LOVELL AND WHERE HAS SHE COME FROM? Maud has been at Angelton Lunatic Asylum for 5 years. She has no memory of her past or how she came to be here. They say she is violent and unstable, hysterical and untrustworthy. But when she's hypnotised, the memories come flooding back. And now it's time for revenge. Welcome to Angelton Lunatic Asylum. Once you're in, it's murder getting out . . . ___________ PRAISE FOR THE ASYLUM: 'Haunting and mesmerising' – Essie Fox, author of The Last Days of Leda Grey 'Vivid, disturbing and visceral, The Asylum is this year's must-read!' – Ruby Speechley, author of A Mother Like You 'This twisty rollercoaster story made me desperate for Maud's salvation and yearn for her revenge. Utterly compelling' – Kerry Fisher, author of The Woman I Was Before 'Evocative, menacing and darkly sinister. A brilliantly executed gothic thriller that will leave you breathless' – Jane Isaac, international bestselling crime fiction author 'A historic novel that seethes with claustrophobia, trauma and thoughts of revenge. What a sophisticated and gripping tale' – Fiona Mitchell, author of The Swap

Rough Magic

Rough Magic
Author: Lara Prior-Palmer
Publisher: Ebury Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781785038860

Lara Prior-Palmer was seeking the unknown. In search of adventure aged nineteen, she entered the world's toughest horse race - a 1000km. ride through extreme conditions in the Mongolian wilderness.

The Smallest Man

The Smallest Man
Author: Frances Quinn
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2021-01-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 147119342X

‘I want you to remember something, Nat. You’re small on the outside. But inside you’re as big as everyone else. You show people that and you won’t go far wrong in life.’ A compelling story perfect for fans of The Doll Factory, The Illumination of Ursula Flight and The Familiars. My name is Nat Davy. Perhaps you’ve heard of me? There was a time when people up and down the land knew my name, though they only ever knew half the story. The year of 1625, it was, when a single shilling changed my life. That shilling got me taken off to London, where they hid me in a pie, of all things, so I could be given as a gift to the new queen of England. They called me the queen’s dwarf, but I was more than that. I was her friend, when she had no one else, and later on, when the people of England turned against their king, it was me who saved her life. When they turned the world upside down, I was there, right at the heart of it, and this is my story. Inspired by a true story, and spanning two decades that changed England for ever, The Smallest Man is a heartwarming tale about being different, but not letting it hold you back. About being brave enough to take a chance, even if the odds aren’t good. And about how, when everything else is falling apart, true friendship holds people together. Praise for The Smallest Man: ‘Nat Davy is so charming that I couldn't bear to put this book down. I loved it’ Louise Hare ‘A perfect fusion of history and invention… Nat’s wit and humour make the poignancy of his story all the more powerful’ Beth Morrey 'What a page-turner! A timely tale celebrating courage, determination and friendship' Anita Frank ‘A perfectly formed masterpiece’ C.S. Quinn ‘I loved this book - a fascinating tale of extraordinary accomplishment, and a story about how anything is possible and how love has always been a beacon of hope’ Phillip Schofield 'I found myself rooting for the Smallest Man in England from the very first page' Sonia Velton ‘A beautiful, heartwarming tale, weaving history and fiction intricately and seamlessly… I loved this book’ Louise Fein ‘This book took me on an epic journey with a character that will always have a special place in my heart’ Emma Cooper ‘An engaging, compelling, thought-provoking story of a life less ordinary’ Caroline Scott ‘A beguiling and well-written tale’ Ellen Alpsten ‘I absolutely fell for the book’s narrator: an ebullient character whose voice and world view I adored’ Polly Crosby