David Pickering

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Pennsylvania

People around the world and throughout history have always held arcane beliefs to try to gain understanding and control over a mysterious world. This entertaining and educational reference describes why actors shout "break a leg" to each other for good luck, and consider any word of encouragement before a performance to be a curse. The entry on baseball players explains why they never mention a no-hitter while it's in progress, and why they carefully place their gloves in the field for good luck. Other sections describe customs involving hundreds of animals and birds, rocks and plants, foods and occupations, sleeping and sexual activities, all believed to possess the power to bring doom or fortune. Besides the many entires about superstitions, taboos, and fears, there are sections on traditional rhymes and chants, as well as the uses of potions and rituals that are employed to avoid harm and master the future.

Dictionary Of Superstitions

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Lucy Barker

A Novel

For fans of The Lost Apothecary or the Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, a deliciously atmospheric historical novel about the rivalry between two female mediums during Victorian London's obsession with Spiritualism.

Mrs. Violet Wood is London's premier medium, a woman of supreme ambition whose and unique abilities have earned her the admiration and trust of London's elite. Mrs. Wood is indeed a clever and gifted seer--her skill is unmatched in predicting exactly what her wealthy patrons want to hear from the beyond.

But times are changing. First, a nosey newspaperman has begun working to expose false mediums across London. Many of Mrs. Wood's friends--and, yes, some of her foes--have fallen to his merciless accusations. Worse yet, though Mrs. Wood's monthly séance tables are still packed, she's noticed that it's been harder to snare coveted new patrons. There are rumors from America of mediums materializing full spirits. . . . How long will her audiences be content with quivering tables and candle theatrics?

Then, at one of Mrs Wood's routine gatherings, she hears that most horrifying of sounds--a yawn. When a sweet girl with an uncanny talent for the craft turns up at her door, Mrs. Wood decides that a protégé will be just the thing to spice up her brand. But is Emmie Finch indeed the naïve ingenue she appears? Or has Mrs. Wood's own downfall come knocking at last?

The Other Side of Mrs. Wood

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Daniel Church

Pages have warped a little but there is no damage to the book 

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Folk horror meets ancient gods in a remote snowbound Peak District town where several murders take place… --- In a lonely village in the Peak District, during the onset of a once-in-a-lifetime snow storm, Constable Ellie Cheetham finds a body. The man, a local ne'er-do-well, appears to have died in a tragic accident: he drank too much and froze to death. But the facts don't add up: the dead man is clutching a knife in one hand, and there's evidence he was hiding from someone. Someone who watched him die. Stranger still, an odd mark has been drawn onto a stone beside his body. The next victims are two families on the outskirts of town. As the storm rises and the body count grows, Ellie realises she has a terrifying problem on her hands: someone – or some thing – is killing indiscriminately, attacking in the darkness and using the storm for cover. The killer is circling ever closer to the village. The storm's getting worse... and the power's just gone out. File Under: Folk Horror [ Small Town | Big Terror | Long Night | A Few Good Women ]

The Hollows

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Julia Kelly

Reminiscent of Martha Hall Kelly's Lilac Girls and Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, this sweeping, entrancing story is a must-read for fans of remarkable women rising to challenges they could never have predicted. It’s always been easier for Cara Hargraves to bury herself in the past than confront the present, which is why working with a gruff but brilliant antiques dealer is perfect. While clearing out an estate, she pries open an old tin that holds the relics of a lost relationship: among the treasures, a World War II-era diary and a photograph of a young woman in uniform. Eager to find the author of the hauntingly beautiful, unfinished diary, Cara digs into this soldier’s life, but soon realizes she may not have been ready for the stark reality of wartime London she finds within the pages. In 1941, nineteen-year-old Louise Keene’s life had been decided for her—she’ll wait at home in her Cornish village until her wealthy suitor returns from war to ask for her hand. But when Louise unexpectedly meets Flight Lieutenant Paul Bolton, a dashing RAF pilot stationed at a local base, everything changes. And changes again when Paul’s unit is deployed without warning. Desperate for a larger life, Louise joins the women’s branch of the British Army in the anti-aircraft gun unit as a Gunner Girl. As bombs fall on London, she and the other Gunner Girls relish in their duties to be exact in their calculations, and quick in their identification of enemy planes during air raids. The only thing that gets Louise through those dark, bullet-filled nights is knowing she and Paul will be together when the war is over. But when a bundle of her letters to him are returned unanswered, she learns that wartime romance can have a much darker side. Illuminating the story of these two women separated by generations and experience, Julia Kelly transports us to World War II London in this heartbreakingly beautiful novel through forgotten antique treasures, remembered triumphs, and fierce family ties.

The Light over London

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Gail MacColl

Carol McD. Wallace

Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery in the Gilded Age (an Inspiration for Downton Abbey)

AMERICAN HEIRESSES TAKE ON THE PEERAGE. In 1895 nine American girls, including a Vanderbilt (railroads), LaRoche (pharmaceuticals), Rogers (oil), and Whitney (New York trolleys), married peers of the British realm—among them, a duke, an earl, three barons, and a knight. It was the peak year of a social phenomenon that began in the Gilded Age after the Civil War, and handed down the legacy of Anglomania, preppies, and the world of the television series, Downton Abbey. In all, more than 100 American heiresses invaded Britannia and swapped dollars for titles. Filled with a wealth of historical personalities, grand houses, gossipy anecdotes, and a feature called comme il faut—the very finest points of etiquette that ruled Victorian and Edwardian society—To Marry an English Lord is their story. Filled with vivid personalities, gossipy anecdotes, grand houses, and a wealth of period details—plus photographs, illustrations, quotes, and the finer points of Victorian and Edwardian etiquette—To Marry An English Lord is social history at its liveliest and most accessible.

To Marry an English Lord

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David Servan-Schreiber

A New Way of Life

The revolutionary, New York Times bestselling guide to the powerful lifestyle changes that fight and prevent cancer—an integrative approach based on the latest scientific research “A common-sense blueprint for healthy living.” —Chicago Tribune “Resonating with cancer support communities and recommended nationwide.” —Los Angeles Times “Life affirming . . . filled with practical advice.” —The Seattle Times David Servan-Schreiber was a rising neuroscientist with his own brain imaging laboratory when, in the middle of an equipment test, he discovered a tumor the size of a walnut in his own brain. Forced to confront what medicine knows about cancer, and all that we still do not know, Servan-Schreiber marshaled his will to live and set out to understand the complex inner workings of the body’s natural cancer-fighting capabilities. He soon found himself on a decades-long journey from disease and relapse into scientific exploration and, finally, a new view of health. Anticancer is at once the moving story of one doctor’s inner and outer search for wellness and a radical exposition of the roles that lifestyle, environment, and trauma play in our health. Drawing on the latest research in integrative medicine that blends conventional and alternative approaches, Servan-Schreiber concisely explains what makes cancer cells thrive, what inhibits them, and how we can empower ourselves to prevent their growth. His advice details how to develop a science-based anticancer diet (and the small changes that can make a big difference); how to reap the benefits of exercise, yoga, and meditation; which toxic, unsafe products to replace in your home; and how to stave off the effects of helplessness and unhealed wounds to regain balance. Anticancer’s synthesis of science and personal experience marks a transformation in the way we understand and confront cancer. A long-running bestseller that has changed the lives of millions around the world, Anticancer remains a pioneering and peerless resource, an inspirational and revolutionary guide to “a new way of life.”

Anticancer

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Jack Finney

Ruben Prien is attempting to prevent World War I, but the man carrying papers to America that might avert the catastrophe is traveling aboard the Titanic

From Time to Time

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Simon Morley is selected by a secret government agency to test Einstein's theory of the past co-existing with the present and is transported back to 1880s New York

Time and Again

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Rachel Joyce

Given days to live and attended by a cast of well-wishers, Queenie Hennessy hides the existence of a long letter to Harold Fry revealing shocking and beautiful truths about her life. By the author of the international best-seller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. 50,000 first printing.

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy

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Atul Gawande

Medicine and What Matters in the End

A prominent surgeon argues against modern medical practices that extend life at the expense of quality of life while isolating the dying, outlining suggestions for freer, more fulfilling approaches to death that enable more dignified and comfortable choices.

Being Mortal

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Gabriel García Márquez

Edith Grossman

Recounts the turbulent life of the great Simon Bolivar.

The General in His Labyrinth

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Liz Jensen

A funny, thrillingly imagined rollercoaster of a novel from the author of The Ninth Life of Louis Drax,bursting with sex, time travel and true love

My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Joyce’s beguiling debut is [a] modest-seeming story of ‘ordinary’ English lives that enthralls and moves you as it unfolds.”—People (four stars) IN DEVELOPMENT AS A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning a letter arrives, addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl, from a woman he hasn’t heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. But before Harold mails off a quick reply, a chance encounter convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. In his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold Fry embarks on an urgent quest. Determined to walk six hundred miles to the hospice, Harold believes that as long as he walks, Queenie will live. A novel of charm, humor, and profound insight into the thoughts and feelings we all bury deep within our hearts, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry introduces Rachel Joyce as a wise—and utterly irresistible—storyteller.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

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Sarah Perry

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

A Kirkus Review Best Book of 2017 and a Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction. Winner of the British Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year and overall Book of the Year, selected as the Waterstones Book of the Year, and a Costa Book Award Finalist "A novel of almost insolent ambition--lush and fantastical, a wild Eden behind a garden gate...it's part ghost story and part natural history lesson, part romance and part feminist parable. I found it so transporting that 48 hours after completing it, I was still resentful to be back home." -New York Times “An irresistible new novel…the most delightful heroine since Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice…By the end, The Essex Serpent identifies a mystery far greater than some creature ‘from the illuminated margins of a manuscript’: friendship.” -Washington Post "Richly enjoyable... Ms. Perry writes beautifully and sometimes agreeably sharply... The Essex Serpent is a wonderfully satisfying novel. Ford Madox Ford thought the glory of the novel was its ability to make the reader think and feel at the same time. This one does just that." -Wall Street Journal An exquisitely talented young British author makes her American debut with this rapturously acclaimed historical novel, set in late nineteenth-century England, about an intellectually minded young widow, a pious vicar, and a rumored mythical serpent that explores questions about science and religion, skepticism, and faith, independence and love. When Cora Seaborne’s brilliant, domineering husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was not a happy one. Wed at nineteen, this woman of exceptional intelligence and curiosity was ill-suited for the role of society wife. Seeking refuge in fresh air and open space in the wake of the funeral, Cora leaves London for a visit to coastal Essex, accompanied by her inquisitive and obsessive eleven-year old son, Francis, and the boy’s nanny, Martha, her fiercely protective friend. While admiring the sites, Cora learns of an intriguing rumor that has arisen further up the estuary, of a fearsome creature said to roam the marshes claiming human lives. After nearly 300 years, the mythical Essex Serpent is said to have returned, taking the life of a young man on New Year’s Eve. A keen amateur naturalist with no patience for religion or superstition, Cora is immediately enthralled, and certain that what the local people think is a magical sea beast may be a previously undiscovered species. Eager to investigate, she is introduced to local vicar William Ransome. Will, too, is suspicious of the rumors. But unlike Cora, this man of faith is convinced the rumors are caused by moral panic, a flight from true belief. These seeming opposites who agree on nothing soon find themselves inexorably drawn together and torn apart—an intense relationship that will change both of their lives in ways entirely unexpected. Hailed by Sarah Waters as "a work of great intelligence and charm, by a hugely talented author," The Essex Serpent is "irresistible . . . you can feel the influences of Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, and Hilary Mantel channeled by Perry in some sort of Victorian séance. This is the best new novel I’ve read in years" (Daily Telegraph).

The Essex Serpent

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Mikki Brammer

Mikki Brammer's The Collected Regrets of Clover is a big-hearted and life-affirming debut about a death doula who, in caring for others at the end of their life, has forgotten how to live her own, for readers of The Midnight Library.

What's the point of giving someone a beautiful death if you can't give yourself a beautiful life?

From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process.

Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story--and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she'll have the courage to go after it.

Probing, clever, and hopeful, The Collected Regrets of Clover turns the normally taboo subject of death into a reason to celebrate life.

The Collected Regrets of Clover

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Elizabeth Chadwick

A King's passion, a young man's love - and a girl's tragic choice The young Roger Bigod, heir to the powerful earldom of Norfolk, arrives at Henry II's court to prove his worth and wrestle his inheritance from the arms of his half-brothers. While there, he encounters the pretty and gentle Ida de Tosney, young mistress to the King. A victim of Henry's seduction and the mother of his son, Ida knows the fickle sparkle of her current life is beginning to fade, and sees in Roger a chance to escape her life of manipulation for security and affection. They begin a careful courtship, but the King's anger soon catches them up. Forced into a corner, Ida's decision will carry an agonising price. Based on a never-before-told true story, critically acclaimed author Elizabeth Chadwick brings the twelfth-century world blazing to life.

The Time of Singing

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V. E. Schwab

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
USA TODAY BESTSELLER
NATIONAL INDIE BESTSELLER
THE WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER

Recommended by Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, NPR, Slate, and Oprah Magazine
#1 Library Reads Pick--October 2020
#1 Indie Next Pick--October 2020
BOOK OF THE YEAR (2020) FINALIST--Book of The Month Club

A "Best Of" Book From: Oprah Mag * CNN * Amazon * Amazon Editors * NPR * Goodreads * Bustle * PopSugar * BuzzFeed * Barnes & Noble * Kirkus Reviews * Lambda Literary * Nerdette * The Nerd Daily * Polygon * Library Reads * io9 * Smart Bitches Trashy Books * LiteraryHub * Medium * BookBub * The Mary Sue * Chicago Tribune * NY Daily News * SyFy Wire * Powells.com * Bookish * Book Riot * Library Reads Voter Favorite *

In the vein of The Time Traveler's Wife and Life After Life, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab's genre-defying tour de force.

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever--and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue

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Samantha Sotto

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Before Ever After

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Alice Hoffman

The daughter of a curiosities museum's front man pursues an impassioned love affair with a Russian immigrant photographer who after fleeing his Lower East Side Orthodox community has captured poignant images of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. By the best-selling author of Here on Earth.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things

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Ann Brashares

Sharing multiple lifetimes with the reincarnations of Sophia, Daniel, a soul with a rare ability to remember his past lives, arrives in the present frustrated that their time together has always been cut short and hopeful that Sophia's burgeoning memories can help them overcome past-life challenges. By the best-selling author of The Last Summer (of You and Me).

My Name Is Memory

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Meg Rosoff

Soon after fifteen year old Daisy arrives at her aunt's farm in England her aunt goes away on business, leaving Daisy with four cousins she's never met--the next day when London is attacked by an unnamed enemy, power fails, systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated with no adults in charge and no rules, and yet the cousins' uncanny bond grows into something extraordinary as time passes. Reprint.

How I Live Now

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Samantha Young

At thirty-three-years old Evangeline Starling's life in Chicago is missing that special something. And when she's passed over for promotion at work, Evie realises she needs to make a change. In a burst of impulsivity, she plans a holiday in a quaint English village. The holiday package comes with a temporary position at the bookstore located beneath her rental apartment. Not only is Evie swept up in running the delightful store, she's drawn into the lives, loves and drama of the friendly villagers. Including Roane Robson, the charismatic and sexy farmer who tempts Evie every day...

Much Ado about You

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On Dublin Street by Samantha Young is the hottest new romance bestseller.Jocelyn Butler has been hiding from her past for years. But all her secrets are about to be laid bare . . .Four years ago, Jocelyn left her tragic past behind in the States and started over in Scotland, burying her grief, ignoring her demons, and forging ahead without attachments. Her solitary life is working well - until she moves into a new apartment on Dublin Street, where she meets a man who shakes her carefully guarded world to its core. Braden Carmichael is used to getting what he wants, and he's determined to get Jocelyn into his bed. Knowing how skittish she is about entering a relationship, Braden proposes an arrangement that will satisfy their intense attraction without any strings attached. But after an intrigued Jocelyn accepts, she realizes that Braden won't be satisfied with just mind-blowing passion. The stubborn Scotsman is intent on truly knowing her . . . down to the very soul.Incredibly passionate and downright romantic, On Dublin Street is a captivating and bittersweet story of the redemptive power of love.'Scotland's answer to E.L. James' Sunday Post'This extraordinary debut combines a true gift for storytelling with a liberal dose of racy encounters. But what really sets it apart is exquisite characterisation, so vivid that the cast seeps into the reader's psyche' Daily Record'Highly recommend this one' USA TodaySamantha Young is a 27-year-old Scottish book addict who graduated from the University of Edinburgh. She currently lives in Scotland. Discover more about Samantha online: ondublinstreet.com; samanthayoungbooks.com; twitter.com/SYoungSFAuthor; facebook.com/OnDublinStreet.

On Dublin Street

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Cecelia Ahern

"Dear Lucy Silchester, You have an appointment for Monday, May 30, 2011. Yours sincerely, Life." Lucy Silchester keeps receiving this appointment card and sweeping the envelope under the rug. Literally. Instead, she has busied herself with work (a job she doesn't love), helping out friends, fixing her car, feeding her cat, seeing her family, and devoting her time to their life dramas. But she's stuck in a rut and deluding everyone. Only Lucy knows the real truth. Then one day life shows up at her door, in the form of a rather run-down man in an old suit, who is determined to bring about change. Life follows Lucy everywhere—the office, bars—meets her flabbergasted friends, and won't let Lucy off the hook. What she learns in the process is that some of the choices she's made, and stories she's told, aren't what they seem either. Now her stubborn half-truths are going to be revealed in all their glory . . . unless Lucy learns to tell the truth about what really matters to her.

Browse by categories

David Pickering

Dictionary Of Superstitions

Lucy Barker

The Other Side of Mrs. Wood

Daniel Church

The Hollows

Julia Kelly

The Light over London

Gail MacColl; Carol McD. Wallace

To Marry an English Lord

David Servan-Schreiber

Anticancer

Jack Finney

From Time to Time

Jack Finney

Time and Again

Rachel Joyce

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy

Atul Gawande

Being Mortal

Gabriel García Márquez; Edith Grossman

The General in His Labyrinth

Liz Jensen

My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time

Rachel Joyce

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Sarah Perry

The Essex Serpent

Mikki Brammer

The Collected Regrets of Clover

Elizabeth Chadwick

The Time of Singing

V. E. Schwab

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue

Samantha Sotto

Before Ever After

Alice Hoffman

The Museum of Extraordinary Things

Ann Brashares

My Name Is Memory

Meg Rosoff

How I Live Now

Samantha Young

Much Ado about You

Samantha Young

On Dublin Street

Cecelia Ahern

The Time of My Life

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