A Vintage Affair


Book Description

“A captivating story about the power of friendship . . . More than a novel, it is a recipe for happiness.”—Anne Fortier, New York Times bestselling author of Juliet Every dress has a history. And so does every woman. Phoebe Swift’s friends are stunned when she abruptly leaves a plum job to open her own vintage clothing shop in London—but to Phoebe, it’s the fulfillment of a dream, and her passion. Digging for finds in attics and wardrobes, Phoebe knows that when you buy a piece of vintage clothing, you’re not just buying fabric and thread—you’re buying a piece of someone’s past. But one particular article of clothing will soon unexpectedly change her life. Thérèse Bell, an elderly Frenchwoman, has an impressive clothing collection. But among the array of elegant suits and couture gowns, Phoebe finds a child’s sky-blue coat—an item with which Mrs. Bell is stubbornly reluctant to part. As the two women become friends, Phoebe will learn the poignant tale of that little blue coat. And she will discover an astonishing connection between herself and Thérèse Bell—one that will help her heal the pain of her own past and allow her to love again. BONUS: This edition contains an A Vintage Affair discussion guide and an excerpt from Isabel Wolff's The Very Picture of You. “Romantic and sumptuous, this is a must for fans of vintage dresses and vintage romance.”—Hester Browne, author of The Little Lady Agency “This colorful new novel has something for everyone. There is mystery, romance, great characters, as well as London and France.”—Naples Daily News “Deftly blends past and present, romance and mystery, and a theme of forgiveness and redemption.”—Mary Kincaid, HuffPost




An Elegant Affair


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The Elegant Economist


Book Description

Before Mrs Beeton there was Eliza Acton, whose crisp, clear, simple style and foolproof instructions established the format for modern cookery writing, leading to her being called 'the best writer of recipes in the English language' by Delia Smith. Including such English classics as suet pudding, raspberry jam, lemonade and 'superlative mincemeat' as well as evocatively-named creations like 'Threadneedle Street Biscuits', 'Baron Liebig's Beef Gravy' and 'Apple Hedgehog', these recipes advocate using the best produce available to create wholesome, inexpensive dishes that are still a pleasure to cook and eat today.




A Vanity Affair


Book Description

This is the ultimate illustrated guide to the most exquisite vanity cases from the nineteenth century onward; an unmissable opportunity for lovers of jewelry and fashion. This elegant and richly illustrated volume, featuring a slipcase and gilded page edges, showcases a rare private collection of vanity cases and includes an exquisite array of luxury accessories from the nineteenth century to the twentieth century. These vanity cases, carefully designed and mostly handmade, became covetable accessories with the advent of beauty products. The vanity case, the ultimate jeweled fashion accessory, was designed and made mostly in Paris by skilled designers and craftsmen who understood that the fashionable modern woman needed a practical solution for carrying lipstick, powder compact, cigarettes, lighter, theater tickets, keys, and other small paraphernalia. Tiny, made of precious metals, including platinum and gold, with inlays of lacquer, gemstones, mother-of-pearl, jade, or enamel, these reticules took hundreds of hours of patient craftsmanship to complete.




The Long Affair


Book Description

As controversial and explosive as it is elegant and learned, this examination of Thomas Jefferson, as man and icon, through the critical lens of the French Revolution, offers a provocative analysis of the supreme symbol of American history and political culture and challenges the traditional perceptions of both Jeffersonian history and the Jeffersonian legacy. 15 illustrations.




The Verdun Affair


Book Description

Across a continent still reeling from World War I, a “ravishingly beautiful” (Paula McClain) story about a love affair between two Americans and the lie that changes everything. France, 1921—Tom, a young American orphaned in World War I, is helping comfort the grieving families who travel through Verdun, seeking answers about their loved ones. But nothing in his past—not his rough Chicago childhood nor his experiences driving ambulances across French battlefields—can prepare Tom for the arrival of Sarah Hagen. From the moment he meets her, a disarmingly magnetic woman looking for news of her missing husband, he knows he will help her in any way he can—even if that means crossing an unforgivable line. As their affair takes them across a fractured Europe careening toward World War 2, Tom and Sarah learn how love can be both a cure for—and a distraction from—the realities of a world turned upside down. But they can only hide from the truth for so long. When news of an amnesiac soldier in Bologna reaches Tom in Paris, he sets off as a journalist to uncover the story, only to find Sarah at the soldier’s bedside, hopeful as ever. Both are surprised to encounter an Austrian journalist named Paul with his own interest in the amnesiac. As they confront the past, Tom’s actions come back to haunt him, and each is forced to make a choice that will change their lives forever. A deeply transporting novel about love and identity, truth and consequences, The Verdun Affair is a page-turning and vividly imagined “literary romance… [that] unravels a love triangle and its players’ secrets” (Los Angeles Times).




The Quaker


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The Pacific


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Sent to the USA


Book Description

Sebastian "Chany" Almazan was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba on August 9, 1945. The day the atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki, Japan. Little did he know the role war was going to play in his life. Chany enjoyed a carefree life as a child in his beach town. He lived like Huckleberry Finn from the pages of Mark Twain. On April 21, 1961 the Bay of Pigs attack failed to liberate Cuba from communism. His parents decided to look after Chany's future and they told their 15 year old son that he was going to be "SENT to the USA." Chany arrived at Miami Florida on September 12, 1961 as a "Pedro Pan Child". A movement created by the Catholic Church with the US Government and some antirevolutionaries in Cuba that brought over 14,000 unaccompanied children from Cuba to the US in the early sixties. He struggled in Puerto Rico where he was sent to live with a distant relative. He was working during the day for 65 cents an hour at a loading dock, while attending evening school to finish his High School. When he finished High School in 1963 he moved to Virginia to attend Va Tech and become an architect. He studied during the day while working at night. He graduated in December 1968 and was drafted into the US Army in February 1969. Sebastian did not start living a normal civilian life until 1971. The issues he had to face in order to achieve the "American Dream" are unique and worth reading about.




The Ladies' Repository


Book Description

The idea of this women's magazine originated with Samuel Williams, a Cincinnati Methodist, who thought that Christian women needed a magazine less worldly than Godey's Lady's Book and Snowden's Lady's Companion. Written largely by ministers, this exceptionally well-printed little magazine contained well-written essays of a moral character, plenty of poetry, articles on historical and scientific matters, and book reviews. Among western writers were Alice Cary, who contributed over a hundred sketches and poems, her sister Phoebe Cary, Otway Curry, Moncure D. Conway, and Joshua R. Giddings; and New England contributors included Mrs. Lydia Sigourney, Hannah F. Gould, and Julia C.R Dorr. By 1851, each issue published a peice of music and two steel plates, usually landscapes or portraits. When Davis E. Clark took over the editorship in 1853, the magazine became brighter and attained a circulation of 40,000. Unlike his predecessors, Clark included fictional pieces and made the Repository a magazine for the whole family. After the war it began to decline and in 1876 was replaced by the National Repository. The Ladies' Repository was an excellent representative of the Methodist mind and heart. Its essays, sketches, and poems, its good steel engravings, and its moral tone gave it a charm all its own. -- Cf. American periodicals, 1741-1900.