MIDWINTER FOLK


Book Description

When Rowan’s parents divorce, her brother Luke turns ‘cold and strange’, and suddenly Rowan starts hearing voices. Is someone stalking her or is she going mad? London is caught in the grip of the coldest winter on record. The Thames freezes over and the streets are half-buried by snow. Rowan soon realises that Luke has been snared by the enemy; the voracious Hunters who want ‘power over all’, and finds that she is running for her life across the increasingly bizarre landscape of the frozen city. It takes a journey into the treacherous depths of Midwinter to save not only Luke, but all that she holds dear. “The old lady looked long into Rowan’s eyes. In the green depths Rowan thought she could see faces amongst leaves, human-like, creature-like, deer running in the shadows of a great forest. “They are in for the kill, Rowan. Remember you have allies. But take care, for ‘The Hunters’ have many spies.”




Midwinter Folk Tales


Book Description

In this enchanting new book, one of the country's most celebrated storytellers has gathered together traditional tales that have their roots in the cold and long, dark nights of midwinter. Herein you will find magical accounts of the Legend of Tinsel, the Christmas Cat and the New Year's Bell, with a number of wintery riddles to unpick while enjoying the festive season and welcoming in the New Year. With so many folk tales intrinsically linked to ancient seasonal customs, there are a few included here relating to traditions such as the Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels (Devon), the Viking 'Up Helly Aa' (Shetland) and Tom Bawcock's Eve (Cornwall). This is a book to curl up with in front of an open fire on long winter nights and to share and retell over a steaming mug of mulled wine.




Midwinter


Book Description

Double agents, espionage and romance, this historical story transports you back to the Jacobite rising in 1745 and in the midst of an attempt by Scottish highlanders to place Bonnie Prince Charlie on the English throne. The plot follows Alastair Maclean, who has been exiled to France, and returns to join the Jacobite army as it moves towards London. Along the way he uncovers double agents, working for both the Jacobites and the British, and falls in love with an enemy's wife. With masses of old-world descriptions and scene-setting, you will walk the roads with the Scottish rebels as they conjure up support and surge forward to London. John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, was a British novelist and historian. He was also known as a Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada. After a brief legal career, he started his writing, political and diplomatic careers at the same time; first serving as a private secretary to the administrator of various colonies in southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort during the First World War. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927, but spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing 'The Thirty-Nine Steps', which was later filmed by Alfred Hitchcock and other adventure fiction.




Folk Music


Book Description

Folk Music: TheBasics gives a brief introduction to British and American folk music. It is an excellent introduction to the players, the music, and the styles that make folk music an enduring and well-loved musical style.




Midwinterblood


Book Description

Seven stories of passion and love separated by centuries but mysteriously intertwined—this is a tale of horror and beauty, tenderness and sacrifice. An archaeologist who unearths a mysterious artifact, an airman who finds himself far from home, a painter, a ghost, a vampire, and a Viking: the seven stories in this compelling novel all take place on the remote Scandinavian island of Blessed where a curiously powerful plant that resembles a dragon grows. What binds these stories together? What secrets lurk beneath the surface of this idyllic countryside? And what might be powerful enough to break the cycle of midwinterblood? From award-winning author Marcus Sedgwick comes a book about passion and preservation and ultimately an exploration of the bounds of love. This title has Common Core connections. A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2013 A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2013




Midwinter of the Spirit


Book Description

As an early winter slices through the old city of Hereford, a body is found in the River Wye, an ancient church is descrated, and there are even indications of evil in Hereford Cathedral itself, where the tomb of St. Thomas Cantilupe lies in fragments.




Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland


Book Description

The islands of Britain and Ireland hold a rich heritage of plant folklore and wisdom, from the magical yew tree to the bad-tempered dandelion. Here are traditional tales about the trees and plants that shape our landscapes and our lives through the seasons. They explore the complex relationship between people and plants, in lowlands and uplands, fields, bogs, moors, woodlands and towns. Suitable for all ages, this is an essential collection of stories for anyone interested in botany, the environment and our living heritage.




THE QUIVER


Book Description




Seasons They Change


Book Description

Exploring the careers of the original wave of artists and their contemporary equivalents, Leech tells the story of acid and psychedelic folk recording artists from the 1960s to the present day.




The Modern Pagan


Book Description

Paganism means living in harmony with nature and respecting all that nature has to offer. It is a sustainable way of life that has existed in the British Isles for thousands of years and that has survived secretly among scattered households throughout the UK. Although it is not a religious path (true pagans do not worship deities), paganism will appeal to anyone who cares about the environment, who is interested in maintaining an organic lifestyle or who believes in respecting their roots whilst catering for the future. Paganism may be thousands of years old, but it is particularly suited to meeting our twenty-first century concerns. In The Modern Pagan, Brian Day explains how to live in a way that honours the land and its inhabitants. There is advice on celebrating seasonal festivals, on cultivating a true pagan garden, on creating delicious food and drink from hedgerow fare, on herbal medicine, on the importance of pagan parenting and family values, on living in harmony without prejudice and discrimination and much more. The core principles of Modern Paganism will make sense to anyone who is tired of the hustle and bustle of our polluted lifestyles, and who is looking for a way to live that is in balance with our fellow human beings and the natural world.