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The Magic of an Irish Rainforest: A Visual Journey
by Eoghan DaltunMagical images of Ireland's temperate rainforests meet with powerful nature writing on an astonishing journey into the wild, from the award-winning author of An Irish Atlantic Rainforest.In 2023, environmentalist and rewilder Eoghan Daltun travelled the length and breadth of Ireland photographing areas of temperate rainforest, in a bid to illustrate their beauty and immense ecological value, and to document, in almost all cases, their state of decline.The resulting collection of stunning images, combined with deeply illuminating nature writing, charts that exploration, beginning with the author's own thriving wild rainforest, Bofickil, on the Beara Peninsula, WestCork, and taking us through the four provinces of Ireland - places such as Killarney National Park, Kerry; The Gearagh, Cork; The Burren, Clare; Old Head Wood, County Mayo; Glenveagh National Park, Donegal;Correl Glen and Cladagh Glen, County Fermanagh; and Wicklow's beauty spot of Glendalough.From close-range to wide-lens, luscious forest imagery and landscapes are captured, unimaginably rich innative flora and fauna, offering us a deep insight into rare and priceless ecosystem fragments that we stillhave but are losing fast, alongside a compelling treatise for how that could so easily be changed for the better.
The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir
by E. J. KohWinner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award and the Washington State Book Award in Biography/Memoir Named One of the Best Books by Asian American Writers by Oprah Daily Longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award The Magical Language of Others is a powerful and aching love story in letters, from mother to daughter. After living in America for over a decade, Eun Ji Koh’s parents return to South Korea for work, leaving fifteen-year-old Eun Ji and her brother behind in California. Overnight, Eun Ji finds herself abandoned and adrift in a world made strange by her mother’s absence. Her mother writes letters in Korean over the years seeking forgiveness and love—letters Eun Ji cannot fully understand until she finds them years later hidden in a box. As Eun Ji translates the letters, she looks to history—her grandmother Jun’s years as a lovesick wife in Daejeon, the loss and destruction her grandmother Kumiko witnessed during the Jeju Island Massacre—and to poetry, as well as her own lived experience to answer questions inside all of us. Where do the stories of our mothers and grandmothers end and ours begin? How do we find words—in Korean, Japanese, English, or any language—to articulate the profound ways that distance can shape love? The Magical Language of Others weaves a profound tale of hard-won selfhood and our deep bonds to family, place, and language, introducing—in Eun Ji Koh—a singular, incandescent voice.
The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam
by Ann Marie FlemingA full-color graphic memoir inspired by the award-winning documentary-and the life and mystery of China's greatest magician. Who was Long Tack Sam? He was born in 1885. He ran away from Shangdung Province to join the circus. He was an acrobat. A magician. A comic. An impresario. A restaurateur. A theater owner. A world traveler. An East-West ambassador. A mentor to Orson Welles. He was considered the greatest act in the history of vaudeville. In this gorgeous graphic memoir, his great-granddaughter, the artist and filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming, resurrects his fascinating life for the rest of the world. It's an exhilarating testament to a forgotten man. And every picture is true.Watch a QuickTime trailer for this book.
The Magical Play of Illusion: The Autobiography Of Trijang Rinpoche
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama Trijang Rinpoche Sharpa Tulku TrinleyThe Dalai Lama’s teacher's autobiography offers glimpses into the young Dalai Lama's spiritual upbringing and his escape from Tibet.Trijang Rinpoche was born to an aristocratic Tibetan family in 1901 and quickly recognized as the reincarnation of a very important high lama. Eventually appointed a mentor to the young Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Trijang became one of his most trusted confidants. His status gave him a front-row seat to many of the momentous historical events that befell Tibet. Rinpoche observes the workings of Tibetan high society and politics with an unvarnished frankness, including inside details of encounters between the Dalai Lama and Mao Tse Tung, Jawarlal Nehru, Pope John Paul II, and Indira Gandhi. Most widely known as a yogi with deep and profound, lifelong religious training, Trijang was also a statesman, a preserver of culture, a poet, writer, and artist. His autobiography is a beautifully written tour-de-force account of Tibetan life in the twentieth century, including intimate details about the upbringing of the Dalai Lama.
The Magical Stranger: A Son's Journey into His Father's Life
by Stephen RodrickThe Magical Stranger is a moving story of love and sacrifice, fathers and sons, heroism and duty, soldiers and the families they leave behind.On November 28, 1979, squadron commander and Navy pilot Peter Rodrick died when his plane crashed in the Indian Ocean, leaving behind a devastated wife, two daughters, and a 13-year-old son.In this powerful, beautifully written book, journalist Stephen Rodrick explores the life and death of the man who indelibly shaped his life, even as he remained a mystery. Through adolescence and into adulthood, Stephen Rodrick struggled to fully grasp the reality of his father’s death and its permanence.To better understand his father, Rodrick turned to members of his father’s former squadron, the "World-Famous Black Ravens." As he learns about his father, he uncovers the layers of these sailors’ lives: their loves, friendships, dreams, disappointments—and the consequences of their choices on those they leave behind. The journey doesn’t end until November 28, 2013, when Rodrick’s first son is born 34 years to the day after his father’s mishap.A penetrating, thoughtful blend of memoir and reportage, The Magical Stranger is a moving reflection on the meaning of military service and the power of a father’s legacy.
The Magical Stranger: A Son's Journey into His Father's Life
by Stephen RodrickOn November 28, 1979, squadron commander and Navy pilot Peter Rodrick died when his plane crashed in the Indian Ocean. He was just thirty-six and had been the commanding officer of his squadron for 127 days. Eight thousand miles away on Whidbey Island, near Seattle, he left behind a grief-stricken wife, two daughters, and a thirteenyear-old son who would grow up to be a writer—one who was drawn, perhaps inevitably, to write about his father, his family, and the devastating consequences of military service.In The Magical Stranger, Stephen Rodrick explores the life and death of the man who indelibly shaped his life, even as he remained a mystery: brilliant but unknowable, sacred but absent—an apparition gone 200 days of the year for much of his young son's life—a born leader who gave his son little direction. Through adolescence and into adulthood, Rodrick struggled to grasp fully the reality of his father's death and its permanence. Peter's picture and memory haunted the family home, but his name was rarely mentioned.To better understand his father and his own experience growing up without him, Rodrick turned to today's members of his father's former squadron, spending nearly two years with VAQ-135, the "World-Famous Black Ravens." His travels take him around the world, from Okinawa and Hawaii to Bahrain and the Persian Gulf—but always back to Whidbey Island, the setting of his family's own story. As he learns more about his father, he also uncovers the layers of these sailors' lives: their brides and girlfriends, friendships, dreams, disappointments—and the consequences of their choices on those they leave behind.A penetrating, thoughtful blend of memoir and reportage, The Magical Stranger is a moving reflection on the meaning of service and the power of a father's legacy.
The Magician and the Cardsharp: The Search for America's Greatest Sleight-of-Hand Artist
by Karl JohnsonA famous magician's journey to find the greatest cardsharp ever evokes the forgotten world of magic where Americans found escape during the Great DepressionIt has the nostalgic quality of an old-fashioned fable, but Karl Johnson's The Magician and the Cardsharp is a true story that lovingly re-creates the sparkle of a vanished world. Here, set against the backdrop of America struggling through the Depression, is the world of magic, a realm of stars, sleight of hand, and sin where dreams could be realized - or stolen away. Following the Crash of '29, Dai Vernon, known by magicians as "the man who fooled Houdini," is tramping down Midwestern backroads, barely making ends meet. While swapping secrets with a Mexican gambler, he hears of a guy he doesn't quite believe is real - a legendary mystery man who deals perfectly from the center of the deck and who locals call the greatest cardsharp of all time. Determined to find the reclusive genius, Vernon sets out on a journey through America's shady, slick, and sinful side - from mob-run Kansas City through railroad towns that looked sleepy only in the daytime. Does he find the sharp? Well, Karl Johnson did - after years of research into Vernon's colorful quest, research that led him to places he never knew existed. Johnson takes us to the cardsharp's doorstep and shows us how he bestowed on Vernon the greatest secret in magic. The Magician and the Cardsharp is a unique and endlessly entertaining piece of history that reveals the artistry and obsession of a special breed of American showmen.
The Magician and the Spirits
by Deborah Noyes“Noyes makes history accessible and irresistible . . . Excellent.”* A century ago, the curious idea that spirits not only survive death but can be contacted on the “other side” was widespread. Psychic mediums led countless séances, claiming to connect the grieving with their lost relations through everything from frenzied trance writing to sticky expulsions of ectoplasm. The craze caught Harry Houdini’s attention. Well-known by then as most renowned magician and escape artist, he began to investigate these spiritual phenomena. Are ghosts real? Can we communicate with them? Catch them in photographs? Or are all mediums “flim-flammers,” employing tricks and illusions like Houdini himself? Peopled with odd and fascinating characters, Houdini’s gripping quest will excite readers’ universal wonderment with life, death, and the possibility of the Beyond. *School Library Journal, starred review of Ten Days a MadwomanFrom the Hardcover edition.
The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia
by Laura MillerTHE MAGICIAN'S BOOK is the story of one reader's long, tumultuous relationship with C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. Enchanted by its fantastic world as a child, prominent critic Laura Miller returns to the series as an adult to uncover the source of these small books' mysterious power by looking at their creator, Clive Staples Lewis. What she discovers is not the familiar, idealized image of the author, but a more interesting and ambiguous truth: Lewis's tragic and troubled childhood, his unconventional love life, and his intense but ultimately doomed friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien. Finally reclaiming Narnia "for the rest of us," Miller casts the Chronicles as a profoundly literary creation, and the portal to a life-long adventure in books, art, and the imagination.
The Magician: A Novel
by Colm ToibinFrom the internationally bestselling author of Brooklyn and The Master comes the novel of a lifetime, Colm Tóibín's most dazzling and ambitious book yet. When the Great War breaks out in 1914 Thomas Mann, like so many of his fellow countrymen, is fired up with patriotism. He imagines the Germany of great literature and music, that had drawn him away from the stifling, conservative town of his childhood, might be a source of pride once again. But his flawed vision will form the beginning of a dark and complex relationship with his homeland, and see the start of great conflict within his own brilliant and troubled family. Colm Tóibín's epic novel is the story of a man of intense contradictions. Although Thomas Mann becomes famous and admired, his inner life is hesitant, fearful and secretive. His blindness to impending disaster in the Great War will force him to rethink his relationship to Germany as Hitler comes to power. He has six children with his clever and fascinating wife, Katia, while his own secret desires appear threaded through his writing. He and Katia deal with exile bravely, doing everything possible to keep the family safe, yet they also suffer the terrible ravages of suicide among Thomas's siblings and their own children. In The Magician, Colm Tóibín captures the profound personal conflict of a very public life, and through this life creates an intimate portrait of the twentieth century.
The Magician: A Novel
by Colm ToibinA New York Times Notable Book, Critic&’s Top Pick, and Top Ten Book of Historical Fiction Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, NPR, Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg Businessweek From one of today&’s most brilliant and beloved novelists, a dazzling, epic family saga set across a half-century spanning World War I, the rise of Hitler, World War II, and the Cold War that is &“a feat of literary sorcery in its own right&” (Oprah Daily).The Magician opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the twentieth century, where the boy, Thomas Mann, grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice. He is the most successful novelist of his time, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, a public man whose private life remains secret. He is expected to lead the condemnation of Hitler, whom he underestimates. His oldest daughter and son, leaders of Bohemianism and of the anti-Nazi movement, share lovers. He flees Germany for Switzerland, France and, ultimately, America, living first in Princeton and then in Los Angeles. In this &“exquisitely sensitive&” (The Wall Street Journal) novel, Tóibín has crafted &“a complex but empathetic portrayal of a writer in a lifelong battle against his innermost desires, his family, and the tumultuous times they endure&” (Time), and &“you&’ll find yourself savoring every page&” (Vogue).
The Magnificent Bastards
by Keith NolanOn April 29, 1968, the North Vietnamese Army is spotted less than four miles from the U.S. Marines' Dong Ha Combat Base. Intense fighting develops in nearby Dai Do as the 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, known as "the Magnificent Bastards," struggles to eject NVA forces from this strategic position.Yet the BLT 2/4 Marines defy the brutal onslaught. Pressing forward, America's finest warriors rout the NVA from their fortress-hamlets-often in deadly hand-to-hand combat. At the end of two weeks of desperate, grinding battles, the Marines and the infantry battalion supporting them are torn to shreds. But against all odds, they beat back their savage adversary. The Magnificent Bastards captures that gripping conflict in all its horror, hell, and heroism."Superb . . . among the best writing on the Vietnam War . . . Nolan has skillfully woven operational records and oral history into a fascinating narrative that puts the reader in the thick of the action."-Jon T. Hoffman, author of Chesty"Real and gripping . . . combat with all the warts on."-Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak, USMC (Ret.)From the Paperback edition.
The Magnificent Bastards: The Joint Army-Marine Defense of Dong Ha, 1968
by Keith NolanOn April 29, 1968, the North Vietnamese Army is spotted less than four miles from the U. S. Marines' Dong Ha Combat Base. Intense fighting develops in nearby Dai Do as the 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, known as "the Magnificent Bastards," struggles to eject NVA forces from this strategic position. Yet the BLT 2/4Marines defy the brutal onslaught. Pressing forward, America's finest warriors rout the NVA from their fortress-hamlets-often in deadly hand-to-hand combat. At the end of two weeks of desperate...
The Magnificent Elmer
by Gerald Gardner Pearl Bernstein GardnerBorn in New York City in 1922, Elmer Bernstein was one of America's most celebrated composers--best known for the award-winning musical scores he developed for film, theatre, and television over a fifty-year career. His best-known work includes the scores he wrote for The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mockingbird, Ghostbusters, and The Ten Commandments, among many others. He was nominated for fourteen Oscars, winning one for the score to Thoroughly Modern Millie in 1967. He was also nominated for two Grammy Awards and won two Golden Globe awards.This debut memoir by Pearl Bernstein Gardner, his wife of twenty years, Galatea to his Pygmalion, provides a sweeping account of the great composer's life--from their time together as newlyweds living in a fifth-floor New York City walk-up to the glamour of the red carpet and the intrigues of Hollywood during the turbulent McCarthy period. The Bernsteins were also close friends with many prominent musicians, actors, directors, and writers of the day, including Frank Sinatra, Clifford Odets, Danny Kaye, Otto Preminger, and Cecil B. DeMille--and the portraits of their intimate conversations are both poignant and memorable.
The Magnificent Life of Miss May Holman Australia's First Female Labor Parliamentarian
by Lekkie HopkinsThroughout the 1930s May Holman was a household name and aninspiration to the women of her generation. She made history in 1925when, at age thirty-one, she became Australia’s first female Laborparliamentarian, holding the seat of Forrest until her untimely death onthe eve of the 1939 elections.A woman who fought tirelessly for the rights of those in her electorate, heraccidental death received national coverage with thousands of WesternAustralian mourners lining the streets to pay tribute.May Holman charted new territory for women, but the barriers sheencountered and her methods of overcoming them still resonate today.
The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post: A Novel
by Allison PatakiNATIONAL BESTSELLER • &“Marvelous . . . I just had to be there with the Post cereal heiress through every twist and turn.&”—Martha Hall Kelly, New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls&“New-money heiress Marjorie Post isn&’t content to remain a society bride as she remakes herself into a savvy entrepreneur, a visionary philanthropist, a presidential hostess, and much more.&”—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose CodeMrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. . . . So begins another average evening for Marjorie Merriweather Post. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. Growing up in the modest farmlands of Battle Creek, Michigan, Marjorie was inspired by a few simple rules: always think for yourself, never take success for granted, and work hard—even when deemed American royalty, even while covered in imperial diamonds. Marjorie had an insatiable drive to live and love and to give more than she got. From crawling through Moscow warehouses to rescue the Tsar&’s treasures to outrunning the Nazis in London, from serving the homeless of the Great Depression to entertaining Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Hollywood&’s biggest stars, Marjorie Merriweather Post lived an epic life few could imagine. Marjorie&’s journey began gluing cereal boxes in her father&’s barn as a young girl. No one could have predicted that C. W. Post&’s Cereal Company would grow into the General Foods empire and reshape the American way of life, with Marjorie as its heiress and leading lady. Not content to stay in her prescribed roles of high-society wife, mother, and hostess, Marjorie dared to demand more, making history in the process. Before turning thirty she amassed millions, becoming the wealthiest woman in the United States. But it was her life-force, advocacy, passion, and adventurous spirit that led to her stunning legacy. And yet Marjorie&’s story, though full of beauty and grandeur, set in the palatial homes she built such as Mar-a-Lago, was equally marked by challenge and tumult. A wife four times over, Marjorie sought her happily-ever-after with the blue-blooded party boy who could not outrun his demons, the charismatic financier whose charm turned to betrayal, the international diplomat with a dark side, and the bon vivant whose shocking secrets would shake Marjorie and all of society. Marjorie did everything on a grand scale, especially when it came to love.Bestselling and acclaimed author Allison Pataki has crafted an intimate portrait of a larger-than-life woman, a powerful story of one woman falling in love with her own voice and embracing her own power while shaping history in the process.
The Magnificent Mischief of Tad Lincoln (Turnabout Tales)
by Raymond ArroyoFrom New York Times bestselling author and news anchor Raymond Arroyo comes a fun picture book biography of Tad Lincoln, his relationship with his father President Abraham Lincoln, and a story about a parent&’s love for his son and the wisdom of a child. Full of humor, this romp through history will teach children about the power of curiosity, imagination, friendship, empathy, determination…and even a little mischief!Tad Lincoln was forever getting into trouble. He bounced around the White House making mischief and annoying almost everyone but the president. Yet Tad was his father&’s joy and comfort amidst a brutal war, a family tragedy, and the toll of holding the nation&’s highest office. When Tad befriends a turkey meant to be holiday dinner, his plea for the pet to be spared teaches Abe a lesson about mercy. It also starts the tradition of the presidential turkey pardon, a tradition that presidents carry on to this day.In The Magnificent Mischief of Tad Lincoln readers 4-8 will:learn about the larger-than-life personality of Tad Lincoln and his father President Abe Lincoln, highlighting the importance of familysee the impact of empathy and understanding towards othersbe inspired by Tad&’s resilience and determination, as he overcomes challenges learning to read and dealing with a speech impedimentenjoy Tad&’s mischievous and adventurous spirit, encouraging children to embrace their curiosity, explore new ideas, and make a difference in the lives of others by being themselves The Magnificent Mischief of Tad Lincoln includes:an annotated list of resourcesa fun history lesson about a favorite holiday traditionvibrant illustrations by artist Jacqui Davisan author&’s note by Raymond Arroyo, New York Times bestselling author of The Spider Who Saved Christmas Check out Raymond Arroyo&’s book The Unexpected Light of Thomas Alva Edison, also part of the Turnabout Tales series, which explores the hidden, pivotal moments that define some of history&’s greatest men and women.
The Magnificent Mitscher
by Theodore Taylor&“First-class . . . more than the biography of a great aviator and military leader. It also is a detailed and lively history of naval aviation.&” —The New York Times Air Adm. Marc Mitscher is a legend in military circles for developing an entirely new concept of war at sea. His skills as both a carrier tactician and genius for leading men rank him with the best World War II combat commanders. However, because Mitscher shunned publicity and destroyed his private papers shortly before his death in 1947, his accomplishments are not widely known. In this outstanding biography, Theodore Taylor traces the aviator&’s brilliant career from its beginnings and makes clear the major role played by the admiral in developing the Navy&’s air program, providing a lively and detailed history of the progress of naval aviation. &“The likable personality and day by day achievements of Mitscher shine through to lift this above the run of the mill military biography.&” —Kirkus Reviews
The Magnificent Mrs Tennant
by David WallerGertrude Tennant's life was remarkable for its length (1819-1918), but even more so for the influence she achieved as an unsurpassed London hostess. The salon she established when widowed in her early fifties attracted legions of celebrities, among them William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli, Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Thomas Huxley, John Everett Millais, Henry James, and Robert Browning. In her youth she had a fling with Gustave Flaubert, and in her later years she became the redoubtable mother-in-law to the explorer Henry Morton Stanley. But as a woman in a male-dominated world, Mrs. Tennant has been remembered mainly as a footnote in the lives of eminent men. This book recovers the lost life of Gertrude Tennant, drawing on a treasure trove of recently discovered family papers-thousands of letters, including two dozen original letters from Flaubert to Tennant; dozens of diaries; and many other unpublished documents relating to Stanley and other famous figures of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. David Waller presents Gertrude Tennant's life in colorful detail, placing her not only at the heart of a multigenerational, matriarchal family epic but also at the center of European social, literary, and intellectual life for the best part of a century.
The Magnificent Spilsbury and the Case of the Brides in the Bath
by Jane RobinsBessie Mundy, Alice Burnham and Margaret Lofty are three women with one thing in common. They are spinsters and are desperate to marry. Each woman meets a smooth-talking stranger who promises her a better life. She falls under his spell, and becomes his wife. But marriage soon turns into a terrifying experience. In the dark opening months of the First World War, Britain became engrossed by 'The Brides in the Bath' trial. The horror of the killing fields of the Western Front was the backdrop to a murder story whose elements were of a different sort. This was evil of an everyday, insidious kind, played out in lodging houses in seaside towns, in the confines of married life, and brought to a horrendous climax in that most intimate of settings -- the bathroom. The nation turned to a young forensic pathologist, Bernard Spilsbury, to explain how it was that young women were suddenly expiring in their baths. This was the age of science. In fiction, Sherlock Holmes applied a scientific mind to solving crimes. In real-life, would Spilsbury be as infallible as the 'great detective'?
The Magnificent Spilsbury and the Case of the Brides in the Bath
by Jane RobinsBessie Mundy, Alice Burnham and Margaret Lofty are three women with one thing in common. They are spinsters and are desperate to marry. Each woman meets a smooth-talking stranger who promises her a better life. She falls under his spell, and becomes his wife. But marriage soon turns into a terrifying experience. In the dark opening months of the First World War, Britain became engrossed by 'The Brides in the Bath' trial. The horror of the killing fields of the Western Front was the backdrop to a murder story whose elements were of a different sort. This was evil of an everyday, insidious kind, played out in lodging houses in seaside towns, in the confines of married life, and brought to a horrendous climax in that most intimate of settings -- the bathroom. The nation turned to a young forensic pathologist, Bernard Spilsbury, to explain how it was that young women were suddenly expiring in their baths. This was the age of science. In fiction, Sherlock Holmes applied a scientific mind to solving crimes. In real-life, would Spilsbury be as infallible as the 'great detective'?
The Magnificent Spinster: A Novel
by May SartonMay Sarton&’s powerful and profound novel of an extraordinary life, and of one woman&’s efforts to preserve the force and vitality of her experiences on the pages of a bookFor the second time in my life—and I am now seventy—I am embarking on an effort which may well come to nothing but which has possessed my mind, haunts, and will not let me sleep. From her opening statement, Cam, the narrator of The Magnificent Spinster, declares her grand intentions: to write a novel—a worthy and important one in celebration of her recently deceased friend and teacher, Jane Reid, whose dearth of family threatens the memory of her almost tangible greatness. And so she writes, re-creating Jane&’s childhood, adolescence, and years as a teacher—including the one in which Cam was her student. She writes of Jane&’s irrepressible spirit and the charming letters Jane penned about her adventures, and she recounts Jane&’s growing isolation as she aged, which, rather than softening her, only made her shine brighter. Raw, warm, and beautifully rendered, The Magnificent Spinster is a stunning achievement—part memoir, part epistolary recollection, and part novel within a novel about friendship, memory, and the power of a brilliant soul.
The Magnolia Story: (with Bonus Content)
by Joanna Gaines Chip GainesThis eBook includes the full text of the book plus an exclusive additional chapter from Chip and Joanna that is not found in the hardcover!<P><P> Are you ready to see your fixer upper?<P> These famous words are now synonymous with the dynamic husband-and-wife team Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV’s Fixer Upper. As this question fills the airwaves with anticipation, their legions of fans continue to multiply and ask a different series of questions, like—Who are these people? What’s the secret to their success? And is Chip actually that funny in real life? By renovating homes in Waco, Texas, and changing lives in such a winsome and engaging way, Chip and Joanna have become more than just the stars of Fixer Upper, they have become America’s new best friends.<P> The Magnolia Story is the first book from Chip and Joanna, offering their fans a detailed look at their life together. From the very first renovation project they ever tackled together, to the project that nearly cost them everything; from the childhood memories that shaped them, to the twists and turns that led them to the life they share on the farm today.<P> They both attended Baylor University in Waco. However, their paths did not cross until Chip checked his car into the local Firestone tire shop where Joanna worked behind the counter. Even back then Chip was a serial entrepreneur who, among other things, ran a lawn care company, sold fireworks, and flipped houses. Soon they were married and living in their first fixer upper. Four children and countless renovations later, Joanna garners the attention of a television producer who notices her work on a blog one day.<P> In The Magnolia Story fans will finally get to join the Gaines behind the scenes and discover:<P> * The time Chip ran to the grocery store and forgot to take their new, sleeping baby<P> * Joanna’s agonizing decision to close her dream business to focus on raising their children<P> * When Chip buys a houseboat, sight-unseen, and it turns out to be a leaky wreck<P> * Joanna’s breakthrough moment of discovering the secret to creating a beautiful home<P> * Harrowing stories of the financial ups and downs as an entrepreneurial couple<P> * Memories and photos from Chip and Jo’s wedding<P> * The significance of the word magnolia and why it permeates everything they do<P> * The way the couple pays the popularity of Fixer Upper forward, sharing the success with others, and bolstering the city of Waco along the way<P> And yet there is still one lingering question for fans of the show: Is Chip really that funny? “Oh yeah,” says Joanna. “He was, and still is, my first fixer upper.” <P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
The Maid and the Queen
by Nancy Goldstone"Attention, 'Game of Thrones' fans: The most enjoyably sensational aspects of medieval politics--double-crosses, ambushes, bizarre personal obsessions, lunacy and naked self-interest--are in abundant evidence in Nancy Goldstone's The Maid and the Queen." (Laura Miller, Salon.com) Joan of Arc, the brave peasant girl who heard the voices of angels and helped restore her king to the throne of France, astonished her contemporaries and continues to fascinate us today. Until now, though, her relationship with Yolande of Aragon, the ambitious and beautiful queen of Sicily--mother-in-law to the dauphin--has been little known. In a stunning work filled with intrigue, madness, and mysticism, Nancy Goldstone solves the thrilling mystery by showing that if you pry open the Queen's secrets, you will find the Maid's. Caught in the complex dynastic battle of the Hundred Years War, Yolande of Aragon championed the dauphin's cause. As French hopes dimmed, a courageous young woman arrived from the farthest recesses of the kingdom. But how did she gain an audience with a king? Was it only God's hand that moved Joan of Arc--or was it also Yolande of Aragon's?
The Maid's Tale: A revealing memoir of life below stairs
by Tom Quinn Rose PlummerPraise for Lives of the Servants: `Reading this fascinating book is likely to unleash almost anyone?s Inner Bolshevik?!' Daily Mail `...a fascinating portrait of the drudgery and servility of a domestic's life.' The Age `...captures the subtleties of the English class system to an extraordinary degree.' Midstate Observer 'If the Brothers Grimm had ended Cinderella where she was being forced to clean the house by her stepsisters, they might have accidentally been writing Rose Plummer's biography. The maid's story makes for harsh, heartbreaking, fascinating reading.? The Daily Telegraph, NZ Born in 1910, Rose Plummer grew up in an East End slum, where she and fought an unending battle with hunger and squalor. At the age of fifteen, Rose started work as a live-in maid, and despite the poverty of her childhood, nothing could have prepared her for the long hours, the backbreaking work and the harshness of a world in which servants were treated as if they were less than human. But however difficult life became, Rose found something to laugh about, and her remarkable spirit and gift for friendship shines through in her memories of a now-vanished world.