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A Song for My Sister
by Tatjana Mai-Wyss Lesley SimpsonWAAAAA! When Mira's wish for a sister at long last comes true, she's thrilled--but the new baby isn't exactly what she expected. Who knew someone so little could make so much noise! No matter what Mira or her parents do to soothe or amuse her, the baby's reaction is . . . WAAAAA!On the day of her simchat bat, her Jewish naming ceremony, the baby cries--as usual! That is, until Mira steps close to offer her own special gift and the inspiration for her parents' choice of the perfect name. Lesley Simpson's tale of a family adjusting to a welcome change is sweet and sassy and very funny. It's a universal story about families and siblings, as well as a glimpse into a lovely Jewish ritual for welcoming baby girls to the family and the community.
A Song for Rory
by Cerella SechristHe had everything he could want...but her Even winning Country Music Artist of the Year can't help Sawyer Landry shake his guilt over leaving Rory Callahan behind. All the fame, fortune and fans he's earned haven't relieved his regret over the way he ditched her. But all that's about to change. Because Sawyer has finally realized that everything is empty without Rory. And he's returning to Findlay Roads to win her back. Hopefully. But Sawyer has no idea how hard it'll be. Rory's not going to welcome him with open arms. And he's about to discover a family secret that could ruin everything...
A Song for the Dark Times: The number one bestselling series that inspired BBC One’s REBUS
by Ian RankinFrom the iconic Number One bestseller Ian Rankin, comes one of the must-read books of the year: A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES 'Genius ... Only great novels capture the spirit of the age. This is one of them.'THE TIMES* * * * *'He's gone...'When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it's not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days.Rebus fears the worst - and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect.He wasn't the best father - the job always came first - but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective?As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast - and a small town with big secrets - he wonders whether this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn't want to find...PRAISE FOR A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES:'Magnificent ... utterly unputdownable and an immersive pleasure' MARIAN KEYES'This is Rankin at his best, Rebus at his best, storytelling that meets the moment and transcends all genres and expectations' MICHAEL CONNELLY'An outstanding addition to one of the finest bodies of work in crime fiction' MICK HERRON'Rankin remains the king of the castle' THE TIMES'Typically compelling' DAILY TELEGRAPH'Masterly storytelling' SUNDAY EXPRESS'Excellent' LIZ NUGENT'The best that the crime genre can offer' FT'Rankin grows better with time . . . Rebus grows ever more compelling' DAILY MAIL* * * * *PRAISE FOR THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER:'Ian Rankin is a genius'LEE CHILD'A master storyteller'GUARDIAN'Rebus is one of British crime writing's greatest characters: alongside Holmes, Poirot and Morse'DAILY MAIL'Great fiction, full stop'THE TIMES'One of Britain's leading novelists in any genre'NEW STATESMAN'Rankin is a phenomenon'SPECTATOR'Worthy of Agatha Christie at her best'SCOTSMAN'The king of crime fiction'SUNDAY EXPRESS**** Ian Rankin's SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 5th October 2020
A Song for the Dark Times: The number one bestselling series that inspired BBC One’s REBUS
by Ian RankinFrom the iconic Number One bestseller Ian Rankin, comes one of the must-read books of the year: A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES 'Genius ... Only great novels capture the spirit of the age. This is one of them.'THE TIMES* * * * *'He's gone...'When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it's not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days.Rebus fears the worst - and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect.He wasn't the best father - the job always came first - but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective?As he leaves at dawn to drive to the windswept coast - and a small town with big secrets - he wonders whether this might be the first time in his life where the truth is the one thing he doesn't want to find...PRAISE FOR A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES:'Magnificent ... utterly unputdownable and an immersive pleasure' MARIAN KEYES'This is Rankin at his best, Rebus at his best, storytelling that meets the moment and transcends all genres and expectations' MICHAEL CONNELLY'An outstanding addition to one of the finest bodies of work in crime fiction' MICK HERRON'Rankin remains the king of the castle' THE TIMES'Typically compelling' DAILY TELEGRAPH'Masterly storytelling' SUNDAY EXPRESS'Excellent' LIZ NUGENT'The best that the crime genre can offer' FT'Rankin grows better with time . . . Rebus grows ever more compelling' DAILY MAIL* * * * *PRAISE FOR THE ICONIC NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER:'Ian Rankin is a genius'LEE CHILD'A master storyteller'GUARDIAN'Rebus is one of British crime writing's greatest characters: alongside Holmes, Poirot and Morse'DAILY MAIL'Great fiction, full stop'THE TIMES'One of Britain's leading novelists in any genre'NEW STATESMAN'Rankin is a phenomenon'SPECTATOR'Worthy of Agatha Christie at her best'SCOTSMAN'The king of crime fiction'SUNDAY EXPRESS**** Ian Rankin's SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 5th October 2020
A Song for the Road: A Novel
by Kathleen BasiCheryl Strayed's Wild meets Katherine Center's How to Walk Away in Kathleen Basi's debut novel about an unconventional road trip and what it means to honor the ones we love.It's one year after the death of her husband and twin teenagers, and Miriam Tedesco has lost faith in humanity and herself. When a bouquet of flowers that her husband always sends on their anniversary shows up at her workplace, she completely unravels. With the help of her best friend, she realizes that it's time to pick up the pieces and begin to move on. Step one is not even cleaning out her family's possessions, but just taking inventory starting with her daughter's room. But when she opens her daughter's computer, she stumbles across a program her daughter has created detailing an automated cross-country road trip, for her and her husband to take as soon-to-be empty nesters.Seeing and hearing the video clips of her kids embedded in the program, Miriam is determined to take this trip for her children. Armed with her husband's guitar, her daughter's cello, and her son's unfinished piano sonata, she embarks on a musical pilgrimage to grieve the family she fears she never loved enough. Along the way she meets a young, pregnant hitchhiker named Dicey, whose boisterous and spunky attitude reminds Miriam of her own daughter.Tornadoes, impromptu concerts, and an unlikely friendship...whether she's prepared for it or not, Miriam's world is coming back to life. But as she struggles to keep her focus on the reason she set out on this journey, she has to confront the possibility that the best way to honor her family may be to accept the truths she never wanted to face.Hopeful, honest, and tender, A Song for the Road is about courage, vulnerability, and forgiveness, even of yourself, when it really matters.
A Song in the Daylight: A Novel
by Paullina SimonsFrom USA Today bestselling author Paullina Simons comes a fascinating novel of love, betrayal, and the price of passion.Nothing is ever as it seems…Larissa Stark is many things. Wife, mother, devoted friend, and unhappy. Her seemingly charmed life in a New Jersey suburb should leave her fulfilled and content. Instead, she feels increasingly isolated and empty. But when she has a chance encounter with an intriguing stranger, her idyllic existence is exposed for the sham it is and leads her to question everything she once firmly believed. As Larissa is faced with one impossible choice after another, she begins to contemplate the unthinkable and struggles with the question that will inevitably change the course of her life: how does one woman follow a divided heart?Spanning the affluent suburbs of New Jersey, the slums of Manila, and the desolate beauty of the Australian outback, A Song in the Daylight is an unforgettable, powerful story of the bonds that unite us—and the desires that can ultimately drive us apart.
Song of a Blackbird
by Maria van LieshoutFOUR STARRED REVIEWS!"This is essential, illuminating reading.” —R. J. Palacio, bestselling author of WonderFight hate. Make art.In 1943 Amsterdam, Emma Bergsma’s world changes when she witnesses Jewish families being forcibly deported to concentration camps. That pivotal moment lights a fire within her, and she decides to join the Dutch Resistance. Before long, Emma is drawn into a clandestine world of printing presses and counterfeiters, with thousands of lives on the line. In 2011 Amsterdam, teenage Annick’s world has changed as well. A search for a bone marrow donor for her beloved oma leads to a shocking revelation: her grandmother was secretly adopted as a child. The only clues to finding their lost family are a series of art prints hanging on the wall—each signed by a mysterious “Emma B.”This timely graphic novel weaves together two timelines to reveal how art, in the face of political upheaval and nearly insurmountable adversity, can become our greatest lifeline.
A Song of Me and You: The escapist pageturner of the summer
by Mike GayleMike Gayle: emotions you'll never forget, stories you'll want to share.Helen and Ben parted as heartbroken 18-year-olds and went their very separate ways.Twenty years later, mother-of-two-teenagers Helen is still in Manchester, a part-time primary teacher, stunned by the behaviour of her love-rat husband. In an old T shirt and scruffy jeans, she feels at the lowest point in her life.And suddenly, impossibly, Ben is standing on her doorstep. Tired maybe, lonely even, but clearly still the world-famous, LA-based multi-millionaire rockstar he has become.Can you ever go back?For Helen and Ben, so much has happened in the years between. But just to sit in the kitchen for a while and talk - that would be nice.Before the world comes crashing in.Friendship, love, heartache and hope collide in this unforgettable emotional journey, from the author of Half A World Away.(P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
A Song of Me and You: everyone knows this rock star's name: only his first love understands his heart
by Mike GayleMike Gayle: emotions you'll never forget, stories you'll want to shareHelen and Ben parted as heartbroken 18-year-olds and went their very separate ways.Twenty years later, mother-of-two-teenagers Helen is still in Manchester, a part-time primary teacher, stunned by the behaviour of her love-rat husband. In an old T shirt and scruffy jeans, she feels at the lowest point in her life.And suddenly, impossibly, Ben is standing on her doorstep. Tired maybe, lonely even, but clearly still the world-famous, LA-based multi-millionaire rockstar he has become.Can you ever go back?For Helen and Ben, so much has happened in the years between. But just to sit in the kitchen for a while and talk - that would be nice.Before the world comes crashing in.Friendship, love, heartache and hope collide in this unforgettable emotional journey, from the author of Half A World Away.'The escapist pageturner of the summer' The Sunday Times Your favourite writers are already falling in love with this story . . . 'Moving, uplifting, unforgettable. Mike always writes from the heart and creates stories we fall in love with' Lisa Jewell'Full of relatable characters and as Mike takes us on a journey through all their high and lows and we're with them every step of the way . . . A wonderful story' Ruth Hogan'Poignant. Powerful. Beautiful' Milly Johnson'Funny, real and unexpected, a story that will keep you hooked to the very last page' Alexandra Potter Fans love this new story . . . 'I've always been a fan of Mike's books BUT this one is my absolute favourite'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Mike writes so well and creates the best, most memorable characters'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Had me absolutely gripped'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Outstanding. Loved it and devoured every page'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Song of Me and You: a heartfelt and romantic novel of first love and second chances, picked for the Richard & Judy Book Club
by Mike GayleMike Gayle: emotions you'll never forget, stories you'll want to shareHelen and Ben parted as heartbroken 18-year-olds and went their very separate ways.Twenty years later, mother-of-two-teenagers Helen is still in Manchester, a part-time primary teacher, stunned by the behaviour of her love-rat husband. In an old T shirt and scruffy jeans, she feels at the lowest point in her life.And suddenly, impossibly, Ben is standing on her doorstep. Tired maybe, lonely even, but clearly still the world-famous, LA-based multi-millionaire rockstar he has become.Can you ever go back?For Helen and Ben, so much has happened in the years between. But just to sit in the kitchen for a while and talk - that would be nice.Before the world comes crashing in.Friendship, love, heartache and hope collide in this unforgettable emotional journey, from the author of Half A World Away.'The escapist pageturner of the summer' The Sunday Times Your favourite writers are already falling in love with this story . . . 'Moving, uplifting, unforgettable. Mike always writes from the heart and creates stories we fall in love with' Lisa Jewell'Full of relatable characters and as Mike takes us on a journey through all their high and lows and we're with them every step of the way . . . A wonderful story' Ruth Hogan'Poignant. Powerful. Beautiful' Milly Johnson'Funny, real and unexpected, a story that will keep you hooked to the very last page' Alexandra Potter Fans love this new story . . . 'I've always been a fan of Mike's books BUT this one is my absolute favourite'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Mike writes so well and creates the best, most memorable characters'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Had me absolutely gripped'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Outstanding. Loved it and devoured every page'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Song of Songs: Exploring the Divine Romance
by Charlie CleverlyThe Song of Songs is redolent with poetic imagery, featuring as it does the love songs of a man and a woman as they explore their relationship. Down the centuries it has often been interpreted either as a sexually-charged love story or an entirely metaphorical imagining of the relationship between God and his people. In this deeply-felt book Charlie Cleverly argues that both interpretations are critical to a true understanding of this book that lies right at the heart of the Bible. If our relationships with one another and with God are not both fully in tune with our humanity, in all its richness, and with our spirituality in its highest form, then we will fall short of all we can be in our lives.Drawing on a wide range of sources, literary and theological and across the ages, Charlie Cleverly makes the case for a new, rounded understanding of this important book.
Song of the Brokenhearted: A Novel
by Sheila Walsh Cindy Martinusen ColomaAva has a loving family, a beautiful house, and a solid faith. Suddenly, her ideal life will be completely broken . . . in the best of ways.Ava’s life is full of great things. Her daughter is getting married to just the right guy, her husband’s company has kept them financially successful for years, her son is thriving as a high-school football player, and the ministry she started is keeping her busy as she reaches out to those with “broken hearts.”Then it all falls apart. Ava’s safe world becomes unanchored, and she is forced to face the childhood she’s run away from her entire life. Just as she’s trying to sift through the pieces, the doorbell rings and Ava is confronted with the surprise of her life.Ava must set out on a journey that takes her back home. Along the way, she encounters God in new and unexpected ways. She sees she's been hiding her brokenness behind good deeds and the comforts of a safe life. Learning what it means to lose it all is just the start of Ava’s journey—as is the new song God is writing on her heart.
Song of the Closing Doors: Poems
by Patrick PhillipsFrom New York City subway encounters to memories of pickup basketball games on Fourth Street, a love letter to the past, and to all the relationships and memories our homeplaces hold, from the National Book Award finalist.&“I will consider a slice of pizza," opens Phillips's poem "Jubilate Civitas." "For rare among pleasures in Gotham, it is both / exquisite and blessedly cheap." Thus, as throughout this collection, he celebrates a simple pleasure that "in a time of deceit . . . is honest and upright, steadfast and good"; even the busted buttons we press when waiting to cross the street make for elegy in a collection that brings us this poet at his burnished best. Phillips finds his love of a complex, vibrant city extends to his dearest people—he writes for his friend Paul, dying of cancer; for his wife&’s stormy eyes when they fight; for the baby boy he once woke at night to feed and change. All these and more pass through Phillips's elegant yet colloquial lines, in a book that shines with love and honesty on every page. As he writes, "If you're reading this / we were once friends."
The Song of the Jade Lily: A Novel
by Kirsty Manning“Kirsty Manning weaves together little-known threads of World War II history, family secrets, the past and the present into a page-turning, beautiful novel."— Heather Morris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Tattooist of AuschwitzA gripping historical novel that tells the little-known story of Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai during WWII.1939: Two young girls meet in Shanghai, also known as the “Paris of the East”. Beautiful local Li and Jewish refugee Romy form a fierce friendship, but the deepening shadows of World War II fall over the women as they slip between the city's glamorous French Concession district and the teeming streets of the Shanghai Ghetto. Yet soon the realities of war prove to be too much for these close friends as they are torn apart. 2016: Fleeing London with a broken heart, Alexandra returns to Australia to be with her grandparents, Romy and Wilhelm. Her grandfather is dying, and over the coming weeks Romy and Wilhelm begin to reveal the family mysteries they have kept secret for more than half a century. As fragments of her mother's history finally become clear, Alexandra struggles with what she learns while more is also revealed about her grandmother's own past in Shanghai.After Wilhelm dies, Alexandra flies to Shanghai, determined to trace her grandparents' past. Peeling back the layers of their hidden lives, she is forced to question what she knows about her family—and herself. The Song of the Jade Lily is a lush, provocative, and beautiful story of friendship, motherhood, the price of love, and the power of hardship and courage that can shape us all.
Song of the Plains: A Memoir of Family, Secrets, and Silence
by Linda Joy Myers PhDEver since she was a child, Linda Joy Myers felt the power of the past. As the third daughter in her family to be abandoned or estranged by a mother, she observed the consequences of that heritage on the women she loved as well as herself. But thanks to the stories told to her by her great-grandmother, Myers received a gift that proved crucial in her life: the idea that everyone is a walking storybook, and that we all have within us the key to a deeper understanding of life—the secret stories that make themselves known even without words. Song of the Plains is a weaving of family history that starts in the Oklahoma plains and spans over forty years as Myers combs through dusty archives, family stories, and genealogy online. She discovers the secrets that help to explain the fractures in her family, and the ways in which her mother and grandmother found a way not only to survive the great challenges of their eras, but to thrive despite mental illness and abuse. She discovers how decisions made long ago broke her family apart—and she makes it her life's work to change her family story from one of abuse and loss to one of finding and creating a new story of hope, forgiveness, healing, and love.
The Song of the Quarkbeast: The Chronicles Of Kazam, Book 2 (The Chronicles of Kazam #2)
by Jasper FfordeMagic has been in a sad state in the Ununited Kingdom for years, but now it’s finally on the rise, and boneheaded King Snodd IV knows it. If he succeeds at his plot, the very future of magic will be at risk! Sensible sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange, acting manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management and its unpredictable crew of sorcerers, has little chance against the king and his cronies—but there’s no way Kazam will let go of the noble powers of magic without a fight. A suspenseful, satirical story of Quarkbeasts, trolls, and wizidrical crackle!
Song of the Tree Frogs: A Novel
by J. W. KitsonThis gripping, suspenseful novel of two brothers and their abusive father explores questions of faith and forgiveness. After a gruesome murder, Phillip must finally face Michael alone for the first time in several months. His greatest fear is whether he can find any forgiveness for the years he remained silent, allowing his younger brother to suffer at the hands of Tony, their sadistic father. Years before the killing, Tony accidentally discovered a letter written to his wife, proving that she had had a passionate relationship with someone named Samuel. Considering the humiliating possibility that Michael might not be his son, and consumed with rage, Tony's only ambition was to destroy the possible evidence of his wife&’s affair. Now Michael is nearly sixteen years old and in the hospital, barely alive. While sitting alone with his brother, Phillip is tormented by recurring memories he can&’t seem to escape—and just when he realizes the hopelessness of his life without Michael, Samuel, the man who wrote the letter to the boys&’ mother, arrives at the hospital. Samuel is confronted with the terrifying reality that he may have missed his only chance to meet the young man he suspects is his son, and refuses to abandon the boys to their barbaric life. Phillip and Michael have only known hatred in their lives, and Samuel and his wife want nothing more than to offer the brothers a chance to learn that love conquers all things—a reality Phillip must embrace if he is ever going to make peace with Michael, and himself, especially after the brutal death that changed everything.
The Song of the Whales
by Hillel Halkin Uri OrlevMichael's grandfather has a secret--a secret that's almost too strange to share . . . When Michael moves to Israel, he leaves loneliness behind and steps into the light of his grandfather's magic. Like a sorcerer's apprentice, Michael learns how to blur the lines between dreams and reality when his grandfather hands down the most precious of gifts--a gift that allows Michael passage into his grandfather's dreams. Written with a quiet simplicity that wins the reader over at once Uri Orlev writes in a style so sure and yet so unassuming that it is certain to linger in reader's minds long after turning the last page.
The Song of the Winns: The Spies of Gerander
by Frances WattsAfter discovering their parents are still alive and their homeland of Gerander is in danger, mouse triplets Alistair, Alice, and Alex, and their friend Tibby Rose, have joined the underground rebel organization FIG. In quick measure, FIG orders Alex and Alice go undercover in Souris to infiltrate Queen Eugenia's palace while Alistair and Tibby Rose are sent to discover Gerander's secret paths, which may be the key Gerandans need to triumph and for the triplets to rescue their parents. Enemy spies, attacking eagles, and blizzarding mountaintops seem all the more challenging when there is a lack of good cheese available, but these four young mice respond with endless creativity and determination. Cheeky and entertaining, The Spies of Gerander is an action filled sequel to the first book in The Song of the Winns series, The Secret of the Ginger Mice.
A Song Only I Can Hear
by Barry JonsbergWhen Rob starts getting mysterious text messages from an unknown number with challenges designed to push him out of his comfort zone, he has to make a decision—stay under the radar, or risk being exposed in a way he&’s not prepared for—in this poignant middle grade novel that&’s perfect for fans of Wonder.Rob Fitzgerald is determined to impress Destry Camberwick, the perfect new girl who he&’s devastatingly in love with. But that&’s a difficult task for a painfully shy wallflower who&’s prone to panic attacks and would rather hang out with his grandad all day. That is, until he starts getting mysterious text messages from an unknown number with challenges designed to encourage him to get out of his comfort zone. Is Rob Fitzgerald on the road to getting the girl? Or will fear keep him out of the spotlight forever? Powerful, moving, and full of heart and humor, A Song Only I Can Hear is a delightful novel about dreaming big, being brave, and marching to the beat of your own drum.
A Song over Miskwaa Rapids: A Novel
by Linda LeGarde GroverA fifty-year-old mystery converges with a present-day struggle over family, land, and history When a rock is dislodged from its slope by mischievous ancestors, the past rises to meet the present, and Half-Dime Hill gives up a gruesome secret it has kept for half a century. Some people of Mozhay Point have theories about what happened; others know—and the discovery stirs memories long buried, reviving a terrible story yet to be told. Returning to the fictional Ojibwe reservation in northern Minnesota she has so deftly mapped in her award-winning books, Linda LeGarde Grover reveals traumas old and new as Margie Robineau, in the midst of a fight to keep her family&’s long-held allotment land, uncovers events connected to a long-ago escape plan across the Canadian border, and the burial—at once figurative and painfully real—of not one crime but two. While Margie is piecing the facts together, Dale Ann is confronted by her own long-held secrets and the truth that the long ago and the now, the vital and the departed are all indelibly linked, no matter how much we try to forget. As the past returns to haunt those involved, Margie prepares her statement for the tribal government, defending her family&’s land from a casino development and sorting the truths of Half-Dime Hill from the facts that remain there. Throughout the narrative, a chorus of spirit women gather in lawn chairs with coffee and cookies to reminisce, reflect, and speculate, spinning the threads of family, myth, history, and humor—much as Grover spins another tale of Mozhay Point, weaving together an intimate and complex novel of a place and its people. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly.
The Song That Called Them Home
by David A. RobertsonFrom the award-winning author of On the Trapline comes a cinematic fantasy-adventure story inspired by Indigenous legends.One summer day, Lauren and her little brother, James, go on a trip to the land with their Moshom (grandfather). After they've arrived, the children decide to fish for dinner while Moshom naps. They are in their canoe in the middle of the lake when the water around them begins to swirl and crash. They are thrown overboard and when Lauren surfaces she sees her brother being pulled away by the Memekwesewak — creatures who live in and around water and like to interfere with humans. Lauren must follow the Memekwesewak through a portal and along a watery path to find and bring back James. But when she finally comes upon her brother, she too feels the lure of the Memekwesewak&’s song. Something even stronger must pull them back home.
The Song That Called Them Home
by David A. RobertsonFrom the award-winning author of On the Trapline comes a cinematic fantasy-adventure story inspired by Indigenous legends.One summer day, Lauren and her little brother, James, go on a trip to the land with their Moshom (grandfather). After they've arrived, the children decide to fish for dinner while Moshom naps. They are in their canoe in the middle of the lake when the water around them begins to swirl and crash. They are thrown overboard and when Lauren surfaces she sees her brother being pulled away by the Memekwesewak — creatures who live in and around water and like to interfere with humans. Lauren must follow the Memekwesewak through a portal and along a watery path to find and bring back James. But when she finally comes upon her brother, she too feels the lure of the Memekwesewak&’s song. Something even stronger must pull them back home.
The Song Within My Heart
by David BouchardFrom the Publisher: Renowned Native painter Allen Sapp's inspired and stunning artwork beautifully complements this sweet story of a boy preparing for his first powwow. The young boy's Nokum - his beloved grandmother - guides him through the events of the day and helps him to understand what the singing and dancing are about. Award-winning author David Bouchard adds rhythmic and informative text based on remembrances from Allen Sapp's own Cree childhood. Brief descriptions of the paintings are included in this book. Told in verse, the language is beautiful and rhythmic, much like the beat of the drums his elders play. The illustrations are gorgeous paintings by Allen Sapp, a noted Cree painter, whose grandmother was his guide and figures largely in his paintings. In addition to the paintings, the endpapers subtly show the rhythm of the chanting. This is a beautiful book about native peoples, a boy and his grandmother, and how the songs and stories are deep within everyone's' own hearts if they will only listen. --Joan Kindig A Cree Indian boy is attending his first powwow with his beloved grandmother and has many questions. In poetic form, Nokum encourages her grandson to close his eyes and listen carefully, and takes the opportunity to teach him about the importance of passing stories on to the next generation: "A story is a sacred thing/That should be passed from age to youth/I choose to share my best with you/That you might own and share them too." The drummers share their stories with the people through the rhythm of the drumbeats. Bouchard based his text on early memories of renowned Cree artist Allen Sapp, whose stunning paintings are showcased in this book. Sapp grew up on the Red Pheasant Reserve in Saskatchewan, and each of his paintings tells a story of his early life. The artwork supports the lyrical and heartfelt text but is not always a perfect match. Nonetheless, it features intimate portraits of the Cree, always from a child's perspective, and always focuses on the strength, beauty, and hope of the people. --Wendy Woodfill
A Songbird in Wartime
by Karen DicksonA wartime family saga, perfect for fans of Rosie Goodwin and Val Wood Shaftesbury, 1936. Mansfield House Hotel has been a refuge for Emily ever since she was orphaned at the age of 16. Not only did they give her employment as a chambermaid, but it&’s also where she met her fiancé Tom. When theatre agent Roland stays at the hotel and hears Emily singing, he is determined to take her away to Bristol and make her a star. But knowing she'd never leave her fiancé, he hatches a plan to get Emily away from Tom. Six years later, Emily has made a name for herself as 'The Bristol Songbird'. Her love for Tom is still as strong as ever, but she's not heard from him since that fateful night so long ago. And with the world enveloped in a war, it seems unlikely the two will ever meet again. Will Emily and Tom ever find their way back to one another? Or will the war – and Roland – succeed in keeping them apart? Praise for Karen Dickson: &‘A compelling saga that will hold you fast from the first page to the last. Loved it&’ VAL WOOD, author of The Lonely Wife 'This rollercoaster of a novel draws you in from the first page… I devoured this in one sitting and look forward to more from this author. In short a gem of a read' FIONA FORD, author of Wartime at Liberty's 'A delight to read... Lily Hayter is a wonderful heroine whose resilience and integrity shine through as she struggles to claim a life of her choosing and find a family. At the heart of the story is a warmth and humanity that makes it a truly uplifting read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was sorry when I reached the end because I wanted to linger in Dickson&’s world. I eagerly await more from Karen Dickson' VICKI BEEBY, author of The Ops Room Girls &‘An exciting, fresh and talented new voice – a five-star read!&’ CAROL RIVERS, author of Molly&’s Christmas Orphans'The characters in this novel are so believable that I cared deeply about them from the first chapter. A heartfelt, hopeful account of one young woman&’s fight to keep her child safe when all the odds are against her. Atmospheric and beautifully written' JAN CASEY, author of The Women of Waterloo Bridge