Christmas Phone Booth


Book Description

Cautious observer Nicasia is at the Wilber Hotel for a wedding. She is careful when it comes to small spaces due to an attack as a teen, but intrigued by the antique phone booth, she steps inside to investigate. A just man with a star, Logan grew up at the end of the nineteenth century in a very religious home. But his reverend father led two lives and left Logan believing there was something wrong with him. Boom! Nicasia is bowled over and knocked to the floor by a force that comes out of nowhere. Where had the man been hiding? Logan is drawn to the 21st century maiden, but will he stay in the future? Each wants to forgive those who hurt them and put the past where it belongs, but neither knows how. Will they help one another?




The Phone Box at the Edge of the World


Book Description

'Absolutely breathtaking' Christy Lefteri, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo. We all have something to tell those we have lost . . . On a windy hill in Japan, in a garden overlooking the sea stands a disused phone box. For years, people have travelled to visit the phone box, to pick up the receiver and speak into the wind: to pass their messages to loved ones no longer with us. When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she is plunged into despair and wonders how she will ever carry on. One day she hears of the phone box, and decides to make her own pilgrimage there, to speak once more to the people she loved the most. But when you have lost everything, the right words can be the hardest thing to find . . . Then she meets Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. What happens next will warm your heart, even when it feels as though it is breaking... The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is an unforgettable story of the depths of grief, the lightness of love and the human longing to keep the people who are no longer with us close to our hearts. Everyone is talking about The Phone Box at the Edge of the World 'A moving and uplifting anatomisation of grief and the small miraculous moments that persuade people to start looking forward again' Sunday Times 'Strangely beautiful, uplifting and memorable, it's a book to savour' Choice, Book of the Month 'A poignant, atmospheric novel dealing with love, coming to terms with loss and the restoration of one's self' Daily Mail 'A story about the dogged survival of hope when all else is lost . . . A striking haiku of the human heart' The Times 'Beautiful. A message of hope for anyone who is lost, frightened or grieving' Clare Mackintosh, Sunday Times bestselling author of After the End 'Incredibly moving. It will break your heart and soothe your soul' Stacey Halls, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars 'Mesmerising . . . beautiful . . . a joy to read' Joanna Glen, Costa shortlisted author of The Other Half of Augusta Hope 'Spare and poetic, this beautiful book is both a small, quiet love story and a vast expansive meditation on grieving and loss' Heat 'A perfect poignant read' Woman & Home




Phone Booth


Book Description

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. An archeological object without conservationists, the phone booth exists as a memory to those over thirty-and as a strange, curious, and dysfunctional occupier of public space for those under thirty. This book approaches the phone booth as an entity that, in its myriad manifestations in different parts of the world, embodies a cluster of attitudes concerning privacy, freedom, power, sanctuary, and communication. Playing off of varied surfaces-literature, film, personal narrative, philosophy, and religion-Phone Booth looks at the place of an object on the cusp of obsolescence. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in the The Atlantic.




The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden


Book Description

★ “Smith spins a quietly moving narrative...Wada’s large-scale woodblock style illustrations are a perfect complement to the story’s restrained text...The graceful way in which this book handles a sensitive and serious subject makes it a first purchase."—School Library Journal When the tsunami destroyed Makio's village, Makio lost his father . . . and his voice. The entire village is silenced by grief, and the young child's anger at the ocean grows. Then one day his neighbor, Mr. Hirota, begins a mysterious project—building a phone booth in his garden. At first Makio is puzzled; the phone isn't connected to anything. It just sits there, unable to ring. But as more and more villagers are drawn to the phone booth, its purpose becomes clear to Makio: the disconnected phone is connecting people to their lost loved ones. Makio calls to the sea to return what it has taken from him and ultimately finds his voice and solace in a phone that carries words on the wind. The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota's Garden is inspired by the true story of the wind phone in Otsuchi, Japan, which was created by artist Itaru Sasaki. He built the phone booth so he could speak to his cousin who had passed, saying, "My thoughts couldn't be relayed over a regular phone line, I wanted them to be carried on the wind." The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 destroyed the town of Otsuchi, claiming 10 percent of the population. Residents of Otsuchi and pilgrims from other affected communities have been traveling to the wind phone since the tsunami.




Telling Sonny


Book Description

Beautifully Written, Heartbreaking Portrayal of Innocence Lost and the Love of Family Telling Sonny is a coming-of-age novel set in the 1920s, when much of vaudeville had devolved into the Small Time. Not so for Faby Gauthier, a naïve girl from the small village of Enosburg Falls, Vermont. For Faby, the annual vaudeville show that comes to the village is worthy of the Great White Way itself. Pretty and vivacious, Faby catches the eye of Slim White, America's self-proclaimed Favorite Hoofer. She spends time with him during the week of the show's run in hopes of learning first-hand how it feels to perform on the vaudeville stage. On Slim White's last night in the village, seduction would appear inevitable, and Faby succumbs. Her desire to forget her lapse in judgment is not to be, however. In a misguided to attempt to do the right thing, Slim White marries Faby on a whim and takes her with him on the vaudeville circuit. Little does she know that in a few short months, she will learn the true meaning of Small Time, setting her life on a path she never imagined.




Follow Jennifer


Book Description




Death as a Living


Book Description

"Entertaining and thought-provoking, Burke blends vignettes from his time on the beat with deeply considered ideas on policing." —Newsweek For more than 30 years, involving more than 1,000 cases, Doyle Burke has been a death investigator, first with the Dayton, Ohio police department, then with a county coroner’s office. In this book, he shares his tricks of the trade: how detectives solve cases, what they look for, the importance of forensic science, and the irreplaceable value of instinct. Along the way, Burke offers humorous trial anecdotes, thoughts on race and policing, stories about the fatal toll stress took on fellow officers, and, perhaps most movingly, details about the three fatal shootings of police officers – one of them one of his first friends on the department, another the son of his sergeant – that he had to investigate. Part memoir, part police procedural, and part true crime anthology, Death as a Living reveals the inside world of homicide and death investigation―the triumph, tragedy, humor, and truly bizarre situations one finds when working that beat.




Faith and Foils Cozy Mystery Series Box Set: Books 1-3


Book Description

Welcome to Banford, where townsfolk are family, tea is hot, and murder is inevitable. Fishers of Menace Cassie Bridgestone’s life is simple. Along with running her country décor shop, she loves to cuddle her cat, sip tea, attend church, and watch birds. But then, things go awry. First, the handsome but mysterious Daniel opens a bookstore in her building and challenges her to face long-buried feelings about her previous relationship Then, a friendly fishing tournament turns deadly and her friend is accused of murder, throwing Cassie’s world into a tailspin she might never recover from. Unless she finds the real killer. But the folks in Banford have secrets. Secrets they’ll do anything to protect, including bringing Cassie’s life to a quick and surreptitious end. Ablazing Grace Welcome to autumn in Banford, where foliage is vibrant, apple pie is sweet, and fire is fatal... Cassie Bridgestone enjoys her simple life in Banford, grateful for fall, her cat, and her growing friendship with Daniel, the handsome bookstore owner. But once again, her life is turned upside down when a deliberate explosion kills a woman, and injures Cassie – and the wrong person is blamed. Now she must juggle an attractive fireman’s affections along with Daniel’s, but not let the intense love triangle distract her from finding the truth. Before the real murderer silences her for good. Peril of the Bells Welcome to Christmas in Banford, where sleigh bells are jingling, cookies are scrumptious, and decorations are deadly… Cassie Bridgestone adores Christmastime in Banford when crowds descend on the cozy village to visit its quaint shops, see the Christmas train, and enjoy the week-long festival. And this year will be extra special now that she’s dating the gorgeous firefighter, Spencer. But when she decides to help out the local food bank, she runs into her old flame, Daniel, and finds her heart torn in two all over again. Then, one of the food bank volunteers is murdered. When Cassie is called upon to assist in the investigation, she has a hard time believing any of the kind-hearted workers could be involved. Yet as she delves further into the mystery, Cassie finds herself embroiled in a far more sinister plot, with a killer willing to silence anyone to keep things secret.




Shanghai Baby


Book Description

Publicly burned in China for its sensual nature and irreverent style, this novel is the semi-autobiographical story of Coco, a café waitress, who is full of enthusiasm and impatience for life. She meets a young man, Tian Tian, for whom she feels tenderness and love, but he is reclusive, impotent and an increasing user of drugs. Despite parental objections, Coco moves in with him, leaves her job and throws herself into writing. Shortly afterwards she meets Mark, a married Westerner. The two are uncontrollably attracted and begin a highly charged, physical affair. Torn between her two lovers, and tormented by her deceit, her unfinished novel and the conflicting feelings involved in love and betrayal, Coco begins to find out who she really is. Here is a beautifully written novel with a distinct voice that describes China on the brink of its own social and sexual revolution.




Hoskins & Fletcher Crime Series, Books 4-6


Book Description

"Great suspense and action, and wonderful world-building. Such a thrilling read." Books 4-6 in the addictive Hoskins & Fletcher crime series are now available as a 3-Book Collection, starting with the gripping cold case thriller, Missing Piece: Sometimes to defeat the monster… You have to become the monster In the summer of 1985 an eight-year-old boy vanishes near his home and is never seen again. Five years later, in the fall of 1990, a nine-year-old missing girl reappears after six months. She is enlightened, she says, and has been with Jehovah in the Garden of Eden. She changes her name to Eve. And thirty years later, she still stands by her story. The two cases couldn’t be more different – the children were from different districts, different schools, different ages and social status, one child returned, the other never did. Only their shared religion offers the faintest of connections. But that doesn’t stop private investigator Cass Fletcher. She knows that for her and her partner to find out what happened to the missing boy before his mother loses her fight with a terminal illness, they’re going to have to look in the places no one else has. They’re going to have to take a leap of faith. Though while her partner’s concerns about the thirty-five-year-old case grow with every passing minute, and the boy’s mother deteriorates, Fletcher refuses to back down. She knows what it's like to live with injustice, she’s been doing just that for the last nineteen years. And with the reappearance in her life of an old adversary, she’s more determined than ever to settle the scores of past hurts, no matter what it takes. But at what cost? Because facing your enemies is deadly. More so when the greatest enemy of all is yourself. "If you are looking for a series to keep you totally absorbed and wanting more, this is it."