The Sealwoman's Gift


Sally Magnusson - 2018
    Among the captives sold into slavery in Algiers were the island pastor, his wife and their three children. Although the raid itself is well documented, little is known about what happened to the women and children afterwards. It was a time when women everywhere were largely silent.In this brilliant reimagining, Sally Magnusson gives a voice to Ásta, the pastor's wife. Enslaved in an alien Arab culture Ásta meets the loss of both her freedom and her children with the one thing she has brought from home: the stories in her head. Steeped in the sagas and folk tales of her northern homeland, she finds herself experiencing not just the separations and agonies of captivity, but the reassessments that come in any age when intelligent eyes are opened to other lives, other cultures and other kinds of loving.The Sealwoman's Gift is about the eternal power of storytelling to help us survive. The novel is full of stories - Icelandic ones told to fend off a slave-owner's advances, Arabian ones to help an old man die. And there are others, too: the stories we tell ourselves to protect our minds from what cannot otherwise be borne, the stories we need to make us happy.

A Rebellious Lady to Love


Aurora Hanson - 2019
    Behaving more like a man rather than like a lady, Willie has given her father a headache with her rebellious, unusual conduct. However, she will soon have to face the ugly truth and deal with an unwanted arranged marriage. Will this be enough to break her spirit and transform her into a model wife? Will she ever be able to forgive her father and trust men again?Boyd Ingram has just returned home from war and has too many hurdles to overcome. Getting married to Willie seems like the only solution, although he knows that this relationship is nothing more than a business arrangement. To his surprise, Willie manages to rock his boat with her nerve and stubbornness. Will Boyd be able to handle Willie's personality or is this marriage doomed to fail? Are the effects of fighting in the war so strong that they could determine the rest of his life?Their marriage is built on mistrust and resentment. However, they will soon discover what family is all about. As the dangerous cut-throat west life closes in around them, they'll have to lean on each other and trust their love if they want to survive. When secrets come out and threaten something Willie treasures above all else, will Boyd be able to protect her? Will they wake up to what they mean to each other before it is too late?"A Rebellious Lady to Love" is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Damsels of Jormia: A Light Novel


Marcus Sloss - 2021
    

Carve Stamp Play: Designing and Creating Custom Stamps


Julie Fei-Fan Balzer - 2013
    Find your "authentic" design voice and get carving today!

Box Set: Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor


Grace May Carter - 2018
     Ingrid Bergman emerges as a devoted artist whose refusal to be a caricature caused her endless trouble - but also produced brilliant performances, from her early role opposite Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca to her profound and final appearance as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. In between, there were four children (including actress Isabella Rossellini), three husbands, and passionate affairs with war photographer Robert Capa, Wizard of Oz director Victor Fleming, and Spellbound co-star Gregory Peck. She was perhaps the most international star in the history of entertainment, and, without a doubt, one of the most misunderstood. In a career that spanned six decades, two Academy Awards, and ten Oscar nominations, Bette Davis became one of the greatest screen legends of all time. But, as her epitaph says, "She did it the hard way." She was in constant battles with co-stars, directors, and studios and struggled with addictions to alcohol and cigarettes. She had four stormy marriages, and even her three children brought pain and controversy - one wrote a scathing tell-all book, another had a severe mental disability, and a third was the subject of a prolonged custody battle. But in her iconic film roles, Davis transcended her troubles to leave an indelible mark on American cinema. Possessing none of the glamorous beauty of Greta Garbo, she had something more powerful and lasting: a restless, incandescent energy that made her mesmerizing to watch on the big screen. Katharine Hepburn was far more than an iconic movie star who won four Academy Awards for best actress and made classic films that still rank among the greatest of all time. She also exerted a unique influence on American popular culture, challenging rigid assumptions about how women should behave - and almost single-handedly gave them permission to wear pants. The list of adjectives used to describe Hepburn - bold, stubborn, witty, beautiful - only begin to hint at the complex woman who entranced audiences around the world. So here is the full, epic story of "the patron saint of the independent American female," as one critic described her. Hepburn always lived life strictly on her own terms. And oh, what a life it was. For a time, Elizabeth Taylor was the world's biggest star, but it was her off-screen life - eight stormy marriages, a jewel-encrusted lifestyle, and struggles with weight and various addictions - that provided the most riveting drama. Long before the age of reality television, Taylor showed how fame could take on a volatile life of its own, obscuring the real person behind the media façade. Now, in this compelling biography, we meet the real Elizabeth Taylor as she grows from precocious child star to "the most beautiful woman in the world" to serious actress to pop-culture punch line, and finally, successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, and HIV/AIDS activist. Along the way, she is vilified by fans for stealing singer Eddie Fischer from Debbie Reynolds, becomes trapped in a cycle of destructive affairs with Richard Burton, and desperately tries to recapture the childhood she never had with the eccentric pop star Michael Jackson. "I've always admitted that I'm ruled by my passions," she once said - and those passions make for a gripping, epic tale of tribulation and triumph.

Angels and Devils


Joan Carroll Cruz - 1999
    Among the many recent books about Angels, this has to be one of the very best, if not the very best yet. Definitely another Mrs. Cruz bestseller! Impr. 314 pgs 44 Illus, PB

An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew


Annejet van der Zijl - 2015
    At eighteen, she met Tod Hostetter at a local dance, having no idea that the mercurial charmer she would impulsively wed was heir to one of the wealthiest families in America. But when he died twelve years later, Allene packed her bags for New York City. Never once did she look back.From the vantage point of the American upper class, Allene embodied the tumultuous Gilded Age. Over the course of four more marriages, she weathered personal tragedies during World War I and the catastrophic financial reversals of the crash of 1929. From the castles and châteaus of Europe, she witnessed the Russian Revolution and became a princess. And from the hopes of a young girl from Jamestown, New York, Allene Tew would become the epitome of both a pursuer and survivor of the American Dream.

Earth & Heaven


Sue Gee - 2001
    has dared to take on a difficult, grief-stricken period of English history, and done so with sensitivity and understanding; EARTH AND HEAVEN is the clever, compelling result' The Times

An Endless Love to Remember


Lorelei Brogan - 2020
    In an hopeful attempt to escape her miserable reality, she secretly gets engaged to her childhood friend. To her misfortune, when he decides to join the Civil War, Vickie will start fighting her own lonely battle. Having not heard from him for two years, she assumes the worst has happened. To her surprise, he comes back, but not the same ma... Which dreadful event made him change his avowal of love for her?Sam Madsen had been a joyful and outgoing man before joining the war. The atrocities he saw on the battlefield, though, turned him into an entirely different person. He is now suffering from a memory loss and barely remembers Vickie or his deep feelings for her. While being extremely confused, trying to recall any possible detail of his past, his father sneakily announces his ambitious plan: his intention to marry his son to Vicki's older sister, Jess. How will Sam deal with this unforeseen request?While Vickie is trying to discover the real reason behind Sam's apparent betrayal, Jess starts finding the idea of becoming his wife appealing. Will Vickie manage to prevent this unwanted arranged marriage? Or will she end up accepting her harsh fate?"An Endless Love to Remember" is a historical western romance novel of approximately 80,000 words. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Inside Oregon State Hospital: A History of Tragedy and Triumph (Landmarks)


Diane Goeres-Gardner - 2013
    In desperate attempts to cure their patients, physicians injected them with deadly medications, cut holes in their heads, and sterilized them. Years of insufficient funding caused the hospital to decay into a crumbling facility with too few staff, as seen in the 1975 film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Today, after a $360 million makeover, Oregon State Hospital is a modern treatment hospital for the state's civil and forensic mentally ill. In this compelling account of the institution's tragedies and triumphs, author Diane Goeres-Gardner offers an unparalleled look at the very human story of Oregon's historic asylum.

The Lincoln Obsession: The Author of Manhunt Chases Down His Own Lincoln Obsession


James L Swanson - 2021
    Taking listeners behind the scenes of his research, Swanson discusses the origins of his boyhood passion for Lincoln, including his first visits to Springfield, Illinois, and Ford’s Theatre as a high school student; accounts for Booth’s movements during the manhunt; reveals how he authenticates Lincoln blood relics; and offers details about historic sites that remain little-known or obscure. Swanson describes the intrigue he continues to pursue - the women who aided Booth, lingering questions regarding other conspirators, and a timeline for both Lincoln and the conspirators on the night of April 14, 1865. The Lincoln Obsession is a uniquely personal look at how historical places and relics will forever shed new light on the first presidential assassination in America.

Lost Boys of Hannibal: Inside America's Largest Cave Search


John Wingate - 2017
    Three modern day Tom Sawyers, with no caving expertise but an abundance of bravado, made Hannibal ground zero for a terrifying calamity that would leave its traumatic mark for half a century. Joel Hoag, his brother Billy, and their friend Craig Dowell vanished after exploring a vast and complex maze cave system that had been exposed by highway construction. Fifty years later, their fate remains the ultimate unsolved mystery.

Mailman of the Birdsville Track: The Story of Tom Kruse


Kristin Weidenbach - 2003
    He made the run every fortnight and was a lifeline to the isolated settlements and stations along the way, delivering everything from letters to essential supplies.

Wheels of Wish (Wish Trilogy #1)


Bibhu Datta Rout - 2016
     A biological allegory that unfolds a historical and mythological mystery that counts back in time as far as the epic Mahabharata. One that surpasses time and the material world with its mathematical calculations within physical elements. Unexplainable evidences, puzzling data, conspiracy theories and unheard secrets intermingle with one another to create plots in the history of time that have been startling scientists and mythologists to date. It's now in the court room that he must face his worst fears and probably the world's greatest held secret, a rare phenomenon of a chromosomal defect, from an unexpected guest.

For the Sake of Her Child


Meg Hutchinson - 1996
    She is befriended by gruff, but tender, Maggie Fellen and builds up a successful business, finding a measure of happiness with Edward Royce. But the happiness does not last. Tragedy robs her of both husband and livelihood and once more she must rebuild her fortune. When fate leads her back to her roots, it is to a confrontation that could break -- or mend -- her heart.