Zelda Fitzgerald: The Biography


University Press Biographies - 2017
    The chafing restrictions of a typical upbringing in upper-class, small town Alabama simply did not apply to Zelda, who was described as an unusual child and permitted to roam the streets with little supervision. Zelda refused to blossom into a typical 'Southern belle' on anyone's terms but her own and while still in high school enjoyed the status of a local celebrity for her shocking behavior. Everybody in town knew the name Zelda Sayre. Queen of the Montgomery social scene, Zelda had a different beau ready and willing to show her a good time for every day of the week. Before meeting F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda's life was a constant pursuit of pleasure. With little thought for the future and no responsibilities to speak of, Zelda committed herself fully to the mantra that accompanied her photo in her high school graduation book: "Why should all life be work, when we all can borrow. Let's think only of today, and not worry about tomorrow." But for now Zelda was still in rehearsal for her real life to begin, a life she was sure would be absolutely extraordinary. Zelda Sayre married F. Scott Fitzgerald on the 3rd of April 1920 and left sleepy Montgomery behind in order to dive headfirst into the shimmering, glamourous life of a New York socialite. With the publication of Scott's first novel, This Side of Paradise, Zelda found herself thrust into the limelight as the very epitome of the Flapper lifestyle. Concerned chiefly with fashion, wild parties and flouting social expectations, Zelda and Scott became icons of the Jazz Age, the personification of beauty and success. What Zelda and Scott shared was a romantic sense of self-importance that assured them that their life of carefree leisure and excess was the only life really worth living. Deeply in love, the Fitzgeralds were like to sides of the same coin, each reflecting the very best and worst of each other. While the world fell in love with the image of the Fitzgeralds they saw on the cover of magazines, behind the scenes the Fitzgerald's marriage could not withstand the tension of their creative arrangement. Zelda was Scott's muse and he mercilessly mined the events of their life for material for his books. Scott claimed Zelda's memories, things she said, experiences she had and even passages from her diary as his possessions and used them to form the basis of his fictional works. Zelda had a child but the domestic sphere offered no comfort or purpose for her. The Flapper lifestyle was not simply a phase she lived through, it formed the very basis of her character and once the parties grew dull, the Fitzgeralds' drinking became destructive and Zelda's beauty began to fade, the world held little allure for her. Zelda sought reprieve in work and tried to build a career as a ballet dancer. When that didn't work out she turned to writing but was forbidden by Scott from using her own life as material. Convinced that she would never leave her mark on the world as deeply or expressively as Scott had, Zelda retreated into herself and withdrew from the people she knew in happier times. The later years of Zelda's life were marred by her detachment from reality as, diagnosed with schizophrenia, Zelda spent the last eighteen years of her life living in and out of psychiatric hospitals. As Scott's life unraveled due to alcohol abuse, Zelda looked back on the years they had spent together, young and wild and beautiful, as the best of her life. She may have been right but she was wrong about one thing, Zelda did leave her mark on the world and it was a deep and expressive mark that no one could have left but her. Zelda Fitzgerald: The Biography

My Haunted Apartment


Lisa Gellers - 2013
    Like most people Lisa Gellers never believed in ghosts or hauntings.  But all that changed when she moved into her first apartment.  It wasn’t long before strange things began to happen: objects moving on their own, things disappearing, disembodied voices, and a dark shadow that followed her wherever she went.Now a true believer in the paranormal, Lisa has decided to share her story.  For any who have suffered from a real haunting, hopefully this will provide you some confort and the knowledge that you are not alone.

Footsteps in the Attic


Heidi Wildes Mitchell - 2012
    Hannah Tandy moves to the small town of Harpersville, Georgia after losing her husband to a drunk driver and soon realizes there's something paranormal going on in her antebellum home. She feels deeply connected to three teenagers who disappeared more than one hundred years before and finds herself drawn into their lives and does everything she can to get to the bottom of their story. Along the way she makes a new life for herself and finds that the townspeople are just as intrigued. Her new home town wants nothing more than to find closure for their lost youths. Where will the eerie footsteps heard in her attic lead her?

Drawing Vengeance - A Bridgeton Park Cemetery Book: #3


Ophelia Julien - 2015
    And then there's the dead people. But even as they are trying to figure out their relationship status, Cassie's godfather and their mutual boss, Steve Crawford, starts to make headway on finding the man he believes murdered his entire family when Steve was just a child.Cassie and Michael are inevitably brought into the ongoing investigation. Meanwhile, the sad spirit of a little boy, probably killed by the same murderer that Steve is pursuing, continues to haunt Cassie. And to make matters worse, Cassie begins to have progressing visions of a deadly hunt where she is the prey. Michael realizes to his chagrin that he can't help her: all they can do is hope that working with Steve and his law enforcement colleagues to find a murderer, might bring an end to the nightmare visions that take Cassie all the way to the gates of hell.

Ouija Board Nightmares: Terrifying True Tales


John Harker - 2015
    Most of the time, those who dabble with the Ouija experience nothing out of the ordinary. But many times that's not the case. And many times that extraordinary experience isn't just strange but downright awful. Ouija Board Nightmares takes a look at some of those terrifying experiences, which range from nightmarish manifestations to actual physical assaults. The author’s intention is to inform and engage, but primarily to warn. While the Ouija board may be marketed as a harmless game, it is indeed neither. If the accounts in this book don't convince you of that, then nothing will.

Her Patriotic Duty


Rosie Meddon - 2020
    When Esme learns she is adopted—from a working class family—she cannot allow Richard to marry so far beneath his station. Fleeing the life she knew, Esme finds work as a "decoy woman," testing British undercover operatives who may otherwise reveal secrets. But she still loves Richard—is she brave enough to go back to him and reveal the truth of her birth? A captivating World War II saga for fans of Rosie Archer and Annie Murray.

Over the Wire: A POW's Escape Story from the Second World War


Philip H. Newman - 1983
    After several failed attempts he got out over the wire and journeyed for weeks as a fugitive from northern France to Marseilles, then across the Pyrenees to Spain and Gibraltar and freedom. He was guided along the way by French civilians, resistance fighters and the organizers of the famous Pat escape line. His straightforward, honest and vivid memoir of his work as a surgeon at Dunkirk, life in the prison camps and his escape attempts gives a fascinating insight into his wartime experience. It records the ingenuity and courage of the individuals, the ordinary men and women, who risked their lives to help him on his way. It is also one of the best accounts we have of what it was like to be on the run in occupied Europe.

Cairnaerie


M.K.B. Graham - 2017
     Geneva Snow commits the unforgivable Southern sin. No longer the apple of her father’s eye, she is a pariah, defying her society's most sacrosanct rule. To protect her—and hoping for a change of heart—her shattered yet steadfast father hides her at Cairnaerie, his mountain estate. But his iron-willed daughter is unrepentant. After years of solitude, an older and wiser Geneva is finally mellowing, and she is desperate to leave a legacy worthy of the father she loved and lost. To that end, she engages an unwitting young history professor for help to escape Cairnaerie long enough to attend the wedding of her granddaughter—a girl dangerously unaware of her lineage. But when a postman’s malevolence and a colleague’s revenge converge, Geneva's long-kept secret is exposed. For a second time, she faces a calamity of her own making. Only this time, there is no place to hide.

The Forgotten One (Dragon's Gap)


L.M. Lacee - 2020
    

Hungry Ghosts


Ron Ripley - 2017
    A cemetery full of secrets. And murderous ghosts on the loose. After more than a decade, Connor Mann is forced out of the psychiatric ward he once called home. He finds himself back in the town where he grew up, with a distant father, and a tragedy all too painful to bear. His attempt to resume a normal life soon comes under attack when he encounters restless spirits lurking in the basement. And someone - or something - terribly vicious awaits him with open arms in nearby Pine Grove Cemetery. Meanwhile, a series of unexplained murders begin to wreak havoc on the town, and a group of detectives work tirelessly on the puzzling case. Unbeknownst to them, an elderly Chinese man, Hu, is on the lookout for a nefarious priest, who might hold the key to unlocking the mystery. As a legion of deadly ghosts cast an ominous cloud over Pine Grove, Connor must confront his tragic past and gather all his strength to defeat them. The battle against unimaginable evil will change everything he knows about himself, and the world.

Soldier, Spy, Heroine: A Novel Based on a True Story of the Civil War


Debra Ann Pawlak - 2017
    When her abusive father traded her hand in marriage for a few head of livestock, she fled their farm and took on the identity of traveling salesman Franklin Thompson eventually settling in Flint, Michigan. There, as Thompson, she joined Company F of the Second Michigan Volunteer Infantry and distinguished herself as a true Civil War hero.In between the First Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Yorktown, the Battle of Williamsburg, and the Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines, Thompson nursed the sick and wounded, carried the mail across dangerous terrain, and became one of the Secret Service’s first spies. Using various disguises including that of a former slave and an Irish peddler woman, Thompson infiltrated enemy lines and stole vital information from the Rebels until a severe case of malaria took its toll. Knowing that the medical attention she needed would reveal her carefully kept secret, she unwillingly deserted the Union Army in 1863. But Sarah Emma Edmonds wasn’t finished. She had a soldier’s pension to fight for and an honorable discharge to claim. Almost a decade after the war was over, she came forward and asked the astonished men she served with for their help in clearing the name of Franklin Thompson.

The Mystery at Chadwick House


Kate Parker - 2019
    All of that can be explained. An attraction to an enigma can't.Adam Chadwick is the biggest puzzle of all. He's a stranger in town, and he won't tell Emma about his past. Is he behind the attacks at the old Victorian mansion? Or is something more sinister happening?

The Mountaineer's Painting: A Ghost Story


David Francis Curran - 2021
    For some reason the glass in the frame is painted over. Upon uncovering the painting beneath he finds a haunting mountainscape. That night he begins to dream about the painter's fatal climb. And when he wakes he finds the painting has changed. This is a ghost story, a love story, and a murder mystery. If you loved the Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze movie 'Ghost,' you'll love this suspenseful book.

The Long Game (Haunted Series Book 19)


Alexie Aaron - 2016
    “Tell him all weren’t lost in the Cardamom Mountains,” he says and is suddenly gone, swept up in a swirling eddy of rain and leaves. The message is intended for both Sheriff John Ryan and Father Santos. It prompts the two, along with Mia and Murphy, to return to the place they first met, Cambodia.Meanwhile, the Big Bear Lake Cemetery is vandalized, and bodies are found to be missing from the Weller mausoleum. To make matters worse, the deputy in charge of the investigation quickly becomes missing too. Acting-Sheriff Tom Braverman deputizes Ted, Cid and Ed to find his deputy. What dangerous game are these spirits playing with both the living and the dead?Mia has avoided the corrupted ground of the Big Bear Lake Cemetery all her life since she was found screaming at the crossroads of the graveyard when she was a young child. She tries to stay out of this investigation, but there is another restless spirit there who will only deal with her. This brings her back to the graveyard to face her greatest fear, in a fight that she may not win. Will her nemesis claim her, or will Mia survive another encounter with the Countess?Come and join Mia, Murphy, PEEPs, and friends as they navigate through the supernatural and the paranormal worlds to discover what “The Long Game” has been all along. Who are the players, and who are the pieces? And who will survive the game?“The Long Game” is the 19th novel of the “Haunted Series.”

Iceland 101: Over 50 Tips & Things to Know Before Arriving in Iceland


Rúnar Þór Sigurbjörnsson - 2017
    The dos and don'ts of travelling and staying in Iceland. Five chapters with multiple tips in each one explain what is expected of you as a traveller - as well as some bonus tips on what you can do.