That Bonesetter Woman

That Bonesetter Woman
Author: Frances Quinn
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2022-07-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1471193462

Pre-order THE LOST PASSENGER, the astonishing new novel by Frances Quinn, coming February 2025. ‘What a heroine Endurance Proudfoot is! I loved her from the start. An unconventional woman who takes us on a fascinating - if bumpy - ride through a man’s world. I laughed, cried and most of all cheered! Can’t stop thinking about it… an absolute cruncher of a tale’ Janice Hallett, author of The Appeal 'A complete joy of a novel that, like it’s wonderful protagonist’s namesake, is a story of endurance against all odds. Full of heart and so eloquently written, THAT BONESETTER WOMAN had me cheering Durie on from start to finish - I absolutely loved it' Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of Pandora ​ It’s usual, they say, for a young person coming to London for the first time to arrive with a head full of dreams. Well, Endurance Proudfoot did not. When she stepped off the coach from Sussex, on a warm and sticky afternoon in the summer of 1757, it never occurred to her that the city would be the place where she’d make her fortune; she was just very annoyed to be arriving there at all. Meet Endurance Proudfoot: clumsy as a carthorse, strong as an ox, with a tactless tongue and a face she’s sure only a mother could love. Durie wants one thing in life: to become a bonesetter like her father. It’s physically demanding work, requiring nerves of steel, and he’s adamant it’s not a job for a woman. Strong-willed and stubborn, Durie’s certain that in bonesetting, her big, usually clumsy hands have found their natural calling. So when she’s bundled off to London with her beautiful sister, she won’t let it stop her realising her dream. As her sister finds fame on the stage, Durie becomes England’s most celebrated bonesetter – but what goes up must come down, and her success may become her undoing. Inspired by the true stories of two of Georgian England’s most famous celebrities, That Bonesetter Woman is an uplifting tale about finding the courage to go your own way, when everyone says you can’t – and about realising that what makes you different can also make you strong.

The Bonesetter's Daughter

The Bonesetter's Daughter
Author: Amy Tan
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2001-02-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101202955

A mother and daughter find what they share in their bones in this compelling novel from the bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club and The Backyard Bird Chronicles. Ruth Young and her widowed mother have always had a difficult relationship. But when she discovers writings that vividly describe her mother’s tumultuous life growing up in China, Ruth discovers a side of LuLing that she never knew existed. Transported to a backwoods village known as Immortal Heart, Ruth learns of secrets passed along by a mute nursemaid, Precious Auntie; of a cave where dragon bones are mined; of the crumbling ravine known as the End of the World; and of the curse that LuLing believes she released through betrayal. Within the calligraphied pages awaits the truth about a mother's heart, secrets she cannot tell her daughter, yet hopes she will never forget... Conjuring the pain of broken dreams and the power of myths, The Bonesetter’s Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the past, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes.

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

Matilda Bone

Matilda Bone
Author: Karen Cushman
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2000-10-16
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0547533233

Into the fascinating, pungent setting of Blood and Bone Alley, home of leech, barber-surgeon, and apothecary, comes Matilda, raised by a priest to disdain worldly affairs and focus on spiritual matters. To Matilda's dismay, her work will not involve Latin or writing, but practical tasks: lighting the fire, going to market, mixing plasters and poultices, and helping Peg treat patients. She is appalled by the worldliness of her new surroundings, and the sharp-tongued saints she turns to for advice are no help at all. Filled with the witty dialogue and richly authentic detail that Karen Cushman’s work is known for, Matilda Bone is a compelling comic novel about a girl who learns to see herself and others clearly, to laugh, and to live contentedly in this world. Author’s note.

The Viscount Made Me Do It

The Viscount Made Me Do It
Author: Diana Quincy
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2021-07-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 006298683X

Diana Quincy returns with the second novel in her Clandestine Affairs series featuring a steamy romance between a working class London bonesetter who is dangerously attracted to her mysterious noble client. A seduction that could ruin everything . . . Hanna Zaydan has fought to become London’s finest bonesetter, but her appealing new patient threatens to destroy everything she’s worked so hard for. With each appointment, the daughter of foreign merchants is slowly seduced by the mysterious former soldier. She’s smart enough to know Griff is after more than he’ll reveal, but whatever it is, the bonesetter’s growing desire for the man just might tempt her to give it to him. An attraction that cannot be denied . . . Rumors that he killed his own parents have followed Thomas Ellis, Viscount Griffin, practically since he was a boy. More than a decade after the tragedy, Griff receives a tip about his parents’ killer . . . one that takes him straight to a beautiful bonesetter. Griff is convinced Hanna is a fraud, but she stirs genuine feelings in him that he thought had perished along with his family. Hanna has a gift for fixing fractured people, but can she also mend a broken heart? More importantly, will Griff let her?

The Doll Factory

The Doll Factory
Author: Elizabeth Macneal
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2020-07-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1982106778

The #1 international bestseller and The New York Times Editor’s Choice “As lush as the novels of Kate Morton and Diane Setterfield, as exciting as The Alienist and Iain Pears’ An Instance of the Fingerpost, this exquisite literary thriller will intrigue book clubs and rivet fans of historical fiction.” —A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window “A lush, evocative Gothic.” —The New York Times Book Review “This terrifically exciting novel will jolt, thrill, and bewitch readers.” —Booklist, starred review Obsession is an art. In this “sharp, scary, gorgeously evocative tale of love, art, and obsession” (Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train), a beautiful young woman aspires to be an artist, while a man’s dark obsession may destroy her world forever. Obsession is an art. In 1850s London, the Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park and, among the crowd watching the dazzling spectacle, two people meet by happenstance. For Iris, an arrestingly attractive aspiring artist, it is a brief and forgettable moment. But for Silas, a curiosity collector enchanted by all things strange and beautiful, the meeting marks a new beginning. When Iris is asked to model for Pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost, she agrees on the condition that he will also teach her to paint. Suddenly, her world begins to expand beyond her wildest dreams—but she has no idea that evil is waiting in the shadows. Silas has only thought of one thing since that chance meeting, and his obsession is darkening by the day. “A lush, evocative Gothic” (The New York Times Book Review) that is “a perfect blend of froth and substance” (The Washington Post), The Doll Factory will haunt you long after you finish it and is perfect for fans of The Alienist, Drood, and Fingersmith.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Author: Lisa See
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2011-10-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1408821621

Lily is the daughter of a humble farmer, and to her family she is just another expensive mouth to feed. Then the local matchmaker delivers startling news: if Lily's feet are bound properly, they will be flawless. In nineteenth-century China, where a woman's eligibility is judged by the shape and size of her feet, this is extraordinary good luck. Lily now has the power to make a good marriage and change the fortunes of her family. To prepare for her new life, she must undergo the agonies of footbinding, learn nu shu, the famed secret women's writing, and make a very special friend, Snow Flower. But a bitter reversal of fortune is about to change everything.

The Kitchen God's Wife

The Kitchen God's Wife
Author: Amy Tan
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2006-09-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 110100715X

"Remarkable...mesmerizing...compelling.... An entire world unfolds in Tolstoyan tide of event and detail....Give yourself over to the world Ms. Tan creates for you." —The New York Times Book Review Winnie and Helen have kept each other's worst secrets for more than fifty years. Now, because she believes she is dying, Helen wants to expose everything. And Winnie angrily determines that she must be the one to tell her daughter, Pearl, about the past—including the terrible truth even Helen does not know. And so begins Winnie's story of her life on a small island outside Shanghai in the 1920s, and other places in China during World War II, and traces the happy and desperate events that led to Winnie's coming to America in 1949. The Kitchen God's Wife is "a beautiful book" (Los Angeles Times) from the bestselling author of novels like The Joy Luck Club and The Backyard Bird Chronicles, and the memoir, Where the Past Begins.

Called Out of Darkness

Called Out of Darkness
Author: Anne Rice
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0307270475

The first memoir from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Interview with a Vampire—a "very affecting story of a well-known prodigal’s return ... [a] vivid, engaging tale of the journey of a soul into light” (Chicago Sun-Times). Anne Rice was raised in New Orleans as the devout child in a deeply religious Irish Catholic family. Here, she describes how, as she grew up, she lost her belief in God, but not her desire for a meaningful life. She used her novels—beginning with Interview with a Vampire—to wrestle with otherworldly themes while in her own life, she experienced both loss (the death of her daughter and, later, her beloved husband, Stan Rice) and joys (the birth of her son, Christopher). And she writes about how, finally, after years of questioning, she experienced the intense conversion and re-embracing of her faith that lie behind her most recent novels about the life of Christ.

The Girl They Couldn't See (Blind Spot #1)

The Girl They Couldn't See (Blind Spot #1)
Author: Laurence E. Dahners
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2016-11-22
Genre:
ISBN: 9781540445933

This story is about Roni Buchry, a young multiracial girl with dark skin but blue eyes. She faces discrimination in her school and her family's retail business is plagued by an organized crime family that collects "insurance," often brutally. Roni's always been extraordinarily good at hiding, first in hide-and-seek as a child and later to avoid embarrassment. Now, older, she and her brother begin to realize that what she actually has is a form of telepathy. She can't read other people's minds, or speak to them silently, or force her thoughts on theirs. All she can do is make other people "not notice" her. At first being able to become invisible seems like a great way to hide from or avoid her old boyfriend, but she slowly begins to realize that it will let her do so much more. She even begins to wonder if she might be able to do something about the mob family that's been holding her city in its thrall.