Edited and introduced by Andrew Tod.'I was born on the 7th May 1797 of a Sunday evening at No. 5 N. side of Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, in my father's own lately built house and I am the eldest of five children he and my mother raised to maturity.'Thus opens one of the most famous set of memoirs ever written. Since its first bowdlerised edition in 1898, they have been consistently in print. This is the first ever complete text.Written between 1845 and 1854 the memoirs were originally intended simply for Elizabeth's family, but these vivid and inimitable records of life in the early 19th century, and above all on the great Rothiemurchus estate, full of sharp observation and wit, form an unforgettable picture of her time. The story ends with the thirty-three-year-old Elizabeth finding her own future happiness in marriage to an Irish landowner, Colonel Smith of Baltiboys.'A masterpiece of historical and personal recall.' Scotsman Views: 594
The story of two young men,16 & 18. Who make a discovery, that indicates a plot to do serious harm, but harm to whom and by who? There is not a lot to go on. Deep into their research & their father discovers what they are up to; he surprisingly volunteers his services to help out, but then he disappears. Can they find him and come to that stop the plot? Suitable for age 9 -> 109.Darryl is on a quest for peace. His chance at fatherhood was taken from him long ago, and an IED in Iraq ensured he’d never get another. In Big Falls, the McIntyre brothers hire him to keep an eye on their beautiful cousin Sophie in case her criminal ex shows up. He doesn’t expect to fall head over heels.Sophie McIntyre’s life was blown apart by a drug dealing ex who cost her her job and nearly her medical license. She comes to Big Falls because she has nowhere else to go. And the minute she gets there, things start to get better.Is it because of that letter to Santa her Aunt Vidalia convinced her to write? Within days she meets a beautiful man with a deeply wounded soul. And oddly, she finds herself giving him the same advice the town Santa gave to her—try believing again, and if it’s too much to believe, then just try hoping.Love, magic, and miracles ensue.Because this is Big Falls, Oklahoma. Miracles are an everyday occurrence around here. Especially at Christmastime.BELIEVE AGAIN with MAGGIE SHAYNE Views: 593
Calpurnia Virginia Tate is eleven years old in 1899 when she wonders why the yellow grasshoppers in her Texas backyard are so much bigger than the green ones. With a little help from her notoriously cantankerous grandfather, an avid naturalist, she figures out that the green grasshoppers are easier to see against the yellow grass, so they are eaten before they can get any larger.
As Callie explores the natural world around her, she develops a close relationship with her grandfather, navigates the dangers of living with six brothers, and comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.
Debut author Jacqueline Kelly deftly brings Callie and her family to life, capturing a year of growing up with unique sensitivity and a wry wit. Views: 592
Finally, fortune—and a woman—smiled on her... More than ready to make a change in her life, Carrie Bowden has discovered a family, received a valuable inheritance and been handed a chance to start over in a new town, in her own mansion. That the interior of her new home is covered with a half-century's worth of dust doesn't daunt her rising sense of adventure. Gillian Dumfries, the local antique dealer, is among the crew of eager helpers who want the old mansion restored to its glory days. Constantly begrimed and disheveled, Carrie is still aware that the furniture isn't the only thing being inventoried by Gillian's eyes. Uncovering art pieces, classic furnishings and old books leads to discoveries—not always welcome—about the mother Carrie doesn't remember and the grandmother who refused to go into those dust-choked rooms for fifty years. Memories of the past stir as the haunting truths of an elegant, but repressive era leave Carrie agitated and anxious. Gillian—confusing, attractive, unexpected—doesn't understand Carrie's increasing fears. But it's the warmth of Gillian's hands that Carrie knows she much reach for when the cold-hearted evils of the past threaten to claim her sanity as their latest victim. Claire Rooney reveals the complexities of history, the price of forbidden passion and the joy of new love in this unique story of present and past. Views: 590
The twenty-nine of us were E.T.I. Team 17, whose assignment was the asteroids. We were four years and three months out of Terra, and we'd reached Vesta right on schedule. Ten minutes after landing, we had known that the clod was part of the crust of Planet X -- or Sorn, to give it its right name -- one of the few such parts that hadn't been blown clean out of the Solar System. That made Vesta extra-special. It meant settling down for a while. It meant a careful, months-long scrutiny of Vesta's every square inch and a lot of her cubic ones, especially by the life-scientists. Fossils, artifacts, animate life . . . a surface chunk of Sorn might harbor any of these, or all. Some we'd tackled already had a few. My hair did not stand on end, regardless of what you've heard me quoted as saying. Views: 590
Eff was born a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son. This means he's supposed to possess amazing talent -- and she's supposed to bring only bad things to her family and her town. Undeterred, her family moves to the frontier, where her father will be a professor of magic at a school perilously close to the magical divide that separates settlers from the beasts of the wild. Views: 590
Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett's teenage daughter, Sheridan, receives a text message with a staggering implication: that April, the foster daughter thought to have died 6 years ago in a massacre, is still alive. If it really is April who's texting, she's in danger, and for Pickett, the only thing worse than losing her the first time would be losing her again. Pickett must negotiate FBI politics, recruit his fugitive friend Nate Romanowski, and take a crash course in cell-phone-tracking technology to find her. Views: 589
Brooman is often tired but that’s because he has a little sister who wakes him most nights with wild stories about bogeymen and suchlike under her bed. And this latest one, about a monster called Cedric who burps black smoke and smells of bananas, is the last straw. But there’s something about this particular wild story. Because as he shoos her off back to bed, he detects the faint smell of----Awarded Shortstory-What had started as the perfect Sunday had turned into a nightmare.The three had spent the day at their favourite beach - a secluded spot between rocky outcrops that hardly ever drew many people. It wasn’t good for swimming. It was too shallow for too far and then it suddenly became deep with dangerous currents. John didn’t mind. He couldn’t swim and for his four-year-old daughter Emily the shallows were ideal. Perfect.Except, Emily had vanished. Views: 589
As a soldier, Cole Granger fights to restore peace to a world divided by war and evil. His extraordinary talents are enlisted to prevent the president's horrific premonition from becoming reality. Nothing—and no one—will stop him from fulfilling his duty. Especially the mysterious young woman who claims to be his comrade's sister. Enemy or ally, he can't yet determine. But one thing he knows for certain is that he must keep her close. Very close. Megan Fox's quest to uncover a family secret leads her to the center of vampire riots in West Virginia. To find the answers she needs—and clear herself of suspicion—she must join forces with Cole. They work undercover to bring justice, but they can't disguise the potent attraction and need that draw them together. Yet trust doesn't come easily for Cole…and when Megan unearths the grim, dark truth, can she trust him to believe her? Views: 588
The final entry in award-winning, New York Timesbestselling author Colleen Gleason\'s International Bestselling Gardella Vampire Hunter Series. "Vampires have met their match with Victoria Gardella,"* but now the huntress faces an even greater evil as London is besieged by malevolent entities no mortal was ever meant to encounter... Directly descended from the very first vampire hunter in the Gardella family, Victoria knows she must continue the lineage so humanity will have protectors against the undead. While Sebastian Vioget appears to be both the perfect warrior and lover to ensure the Gardella Legacy, Victoria cannot forget Max Pesaro--the former slayer still haunted by the vampire queen Lilith\'s obsession with him. But it is Lilith\'s obsession that may, in fact, save all of humanity. Demons, enemies of both mortals and the undead, have found their way to earth. To defeat them, vampires and slayers must fight side by side. But Lilith wants Max in return for her cooperation--a small price for the world, but too high a price for Victoria. "Addictively readable." --The Chicago Tribune *Kady Cross, bestselling author of The Girl in the Steel Corset
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition. Views: 587
The Suicide Run collects five of William Styron’s meticulously rendered narratives based on his real-life experiences as a U.S. Marine. In “Blankenship,” Styron draws on his stint as a guard at a stateside military prison at the end of World War II. “Marriott, the Marine” and “The Suicide Run”—which Styron composed as part of an intended novel that he set aside to write Sophie’s Choice—depict the surreal experience of being conscripted a second time, after World War II, to serve in the Korean War. “My Father’s House” captures the frustration of a soldier trying to become a civilian again. In “Elobey, Annobón, and Corisco,” a soldier attempts to exorcise the dread of an approaching battle by daydreaming about far-off islands, visited vicariously through his childhood stamp collection.
Perhaps the last volume from one of literature’s greatest voices, The Suicide Run brings to life the drama, absurdity, and heroism that forever changed the men who served in the Marine Corps. Views: 587
Jaikus and Reneeke are ordinary lads whose dream in life is to become a member of The Adventurer's Guild. But to become a member, they must be able to lay claim to an Adventure worthy of the Guild. They quickly realize that doing such may be harder than anticipated. Tagging along with a seasoned Group of Adventurers as Springers they set out only to later learn that Springers-Spring the trap Views: 586
