Sisters of Vellangoose


Book Description

No secret can stay hidden forever ... Submissive housewife, Becky, and feisty single parent, Abi, are unaware of each other's existence until their biological father, Henry Williams, dies and leaves them Vellangoose, a dilapidated smallholding in Cornwall. When both women find themselves homeless, living together at Vellangoose seems like their only option, but there are financial conditions attached to their father's Trust. They are forced to use their bartering skills to survive, which they are determined to do, much to the annoyance of Henry's wealthy widow, Veronica Williams. Veronica wants Vellangoose for herself and is willing to do whatever is necessary to get it. But why is she so desperate to gain ownership of Vellangoose? Will Becky and Abi be able to overcome their many differences to find out what her real motives are and retain their inheritance?




Daughters of Pengollan


Book Description

The past can never be forgotten ... In Cornwall, a jaded Shannon is barely surviving off-grid in a caravan whilst her estranged childhood friend, Rosa, is living in luxury in a showcase house. Then, out of nowhere, somebody starts sending them threatening messages, and their carefully hidden pasts start to unravel. Having not seen each other since tragedy struck on their fifteenth birthdays, they are forced to come together to work out who is stalking them. Whoever it is wants to make them suffer, but why? Could it be connected to the events of that traumatic day? As the threats escalate, each of them is haunted in very different ways by their past actions, but the one thing Shannon and Rosa can agree on is they must find their tormentor before they take everything from them, including their lives. But are they prepared for the truth?




A Lancashire Story


Book Description

Life as a miner, or as a cotton spinner, is not for Austin. He has ambition. Negotiating his way through an inter-denominational marriage, he marries Emma, a non-Catholic. After leaving Farnworth, a small mill town on the edge of Bolton, Austin's career as a steam engineer takes the family on a journey through the cotton towns of early twentieth century Lancashire. A dozen years later, they have three children. Annie, the eldest, and Thomas, the youngest, are quiet and well behaved. Edward is different. He's a rascal, always ready for a bit of fun, and frequently willing to break the rules. Family life, and dealing with a recalcitrant son was challenging enough, but at least it seemed manageable. Alas, the onset of war was about to disrupt everything.




A Girl Returned


Book Description

“One of the best Italian novels of the year” in a pitch-perfect rendering in English by Ann Goldstein, Elena Ferrante’s translator (Huffington Post, Italy). Winner of the Campiello Prize A 2019 Best Book of the Year (The Washington Post Kirkus Reviews Dallas Morning News) Told with an immediacy and a rare expressive intensity that has earned it countless adoring readers and one of Italy’s most prestigious literary prizes, A Girl Returned is a powerful novel rendered with sensitivity and verve by Ann Goldstein, translator of the works of Elena Ferrante. Set against the stark, beautiful landscape of Abruzzo in central Italy, this is a compelling story about mothers and daughters, about responsibility, siblings, and caregiving. Without warning or explanation, an unnamed thirteen-year-old girl is sent away from the family she has always thought of as hers to live with her birth family: a large, chaotic assortment of individuals whom she has never met and who seem anything but welcoming. Thus begins a new life, one of struggle, tension, and conflict, especially between the young girl and her mother. But in her relationship with Adriana and Vincenzo, two of her newly acquired siblings, she will find the strength to start again and to build a new and enduring sense of self. “An achingly beautiful book, and an utterly devastating one.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune “Di Pietrantonio [has a] lively way with a phrase (the translator, Ann Goldstein, shows the same sensitivity she does with Elena Ferrante) [and] a fine instinct for detail.” —The Washington Post “A gripping, deeply moving coming-of-age novel; immensely readable, beautifully written, and highly recommended.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Captivating.” —The Economist




An Empire Wilderness


Book Description

Having reported on some of the world's most violent, least understood regions in his bestsellers Balkan Ghosts and The Ends of the Earth, Robert Kaplan now returns to his native land, the United States of America. Traveling, like Tocqueville and John Gunther before him, through a political and cultural landscape in transition, Kaplan reveals a nation shedding a familiar identity as it assumes a radically new one. An Empire Wilderness opens in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where the first white settlers moved into Indian country and where Manifest Destiny was born. In a world whose future conflicts can barely be imagined, it is also the place where the army trains its men to fight the next war. "A nostalgic view of the United States is deliberately cultivated here," Kaplan writes, "as if to bind the uncertain future to a reliable past." From Fort Leavenworth, Kaplan travels west to the great cities of the heartland--to St. Louis, once a glorious shipping center expected to outshine imperial Rome and now touted, with its desolate inner city and miles of suburban gated communities, as "the most average American city." Kaplan continues west to Omaha; down through California; north from Mexico, across Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; up to Montana and Canada, and back through Oregon. He visits Mexican border settlements and dust-blown county sheriffs' offices, Indian reservations and nuclear bomb plants, cattle ranches in the Oklahoma Panhandle, glacier-mantled forests in the Pacific Northwest, swanky postsuburban sprawls and grim bus terminals, and comes, at last, to the great battlefield at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where an earlier generation of Americans gave their lives for their vision of an American future. But what, if anything, he asks, will today's Americans fight and die for? At Vicksburg Kaplan contemplates the new America through which he has just traveled--an America of sharply polarized communities that draws its population from pools of talent far beyond its borders; an America where the distance between winners and losers grows exponentially as corporations assume gov-ernment functions and the wealthy find themselves more closely linked to their business associates in India and China than to their poorer neighbors a few miles away; an America where old loyalties and allegiances are vanishing and new ones are only beginning to emerge. The new America he found is in the pages of this book. Kaplan gives a precise and chilling vision of how the most successful nation the world has ever known is entering the final, and highly uncertain, phase of its history.




If Nuns Ruled the World


Book Description

“Fascinating profiles” of remarkable nuns, from an eighty-three-year-old Ironman champion to a crusader against human trafficking (Daily News [New York]). “In an age of villainy, war and inequality, it makes sense that we need superheroes,” writes Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times. “And after trying Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, we may have found the best superheroes yet: Nuns.” In If Nuns Ruled the World, veteran reporter Jo Piazza overthrows the popular perception of nuns as killjoy schoolmarms, instead revealing them as the most vigorous catalysts of change in an otherwise repressive society. Meet Sister Simone Campbell, who traversed the United States challenging a Congressional budget that threatened to severely undermine the well-being of poor Americans; Sister Megan Rice, who is willing to spend the rest of her life in prison if it helps eliminate nuclear weapons; and the inimitable Sister Jeannine Gramick, who is fighting for acceptance of gays and lesbians in the Catholic Church. During a time when American nuns are often under attack from the very institution to which they devote their lives—and the values of the institution itself are hotly debated—these sisters offer thought-provoking and inspiring stories. As the Daily Beast put it, “Anybody looking to argue there is a place for Catholicism in the modern world should just stand on a street corner handing out Piazza’s book.”




Thoughtful Thinking


Book Description

This book of short stories by Daksha Patel celebrates the power of "moral courage". The stories aim to teach children important lessons in the art of applying morals to everyday life so they can succeed at any task which they encounter. Each moral story comes with some key lessons and focuses on the element of intelligence and strength in both animal and human life. The black and white pictures, by Izzy Bean provide the reader with the opportunity to colour in the pictures too. Each of the comprehensions comes with the answers in the back. This book can be used by teachers and parents alike to cover lessons in creative writing.




Tuning the A-Series Engine


Book Description

Increase the power output of your A-Series! This fact-filled guide covers all aspects of engine tuning in detail, including filters, carburation, intake manifolds, cylinder heads, exhaust systems, camshafts, valve trains, blocks, cranks, con rods and pistons, plus lubrication systems and oils, ignition systems, and nitrous oxide injection. Applicable to all A-Series engines, small and big bore types, from 803 to 1275cc.




Raffles


Book Description

Beneath the dusty layers of Grandpa's antique shop, Raffles the dog discovers a long-forgotten secret – a magical secret that takes him and his new-found friend on their first adventure to a far-off exotic land. Will they be able to revisit Grandpa's past and repair the magic that was once lost?




Saving Graces


Book Description

This book is about tragedy, second chances and ultimate success. Grace Brabazon is a dedicated teacher in war-weary rural Britain; and Grace Adams a talented young fashion designer, fighting to survive the pressures of 21st Century London. When both their promising careers are cut short, abruptly and dramatically, it seems that there can be no possible way forward for them. But then an extraordinary time-shift brings about a 'life-swap' between the women. Outspoken individualist, Grace Adams, finds herself in wartime Quintin Parva, an isolated Dorset village with a very limited perspective; and gentle Grace Brabazon is transported to the bewildering world of the 21st Century, living in the same village - where she was born and where she taught - seventy years later. Because of their physical similarities, each is accepted by the communities in which they now find themselves and each responds to her new life very differently - their characters flowering in ways that would not have been possible had they remained in their own era. Risk-taking Grace Adams relishes the bizarre opportunity and grasps it with both hands - whatever it offers. What is offered to her is beyond her wildest imaginings: she meets one of the major influences in her career, Angelo Romani, a groundbreaking mid-twentieth century Italian designer. They fall passionately in love, with a life-changing relationship that transforms both their lives. Battling against the judgmental attitudes of the villagers, they manage to survive the war and post-war years, eventually marrying in Quintin Parva before moving to live in Italy. Grace becomes Grazia Romani, co-founder of the House of Romani, whose designs so inspired her when a student in her twentieth century life. Grace Brabazon initially has no memory of her life in wartime Britain, but recalls everything when she sees a plaque dedicated to the memory of her late father, the vicar. Gentle and reflective, her emotional and professional journey differs radically from that of Grace Adams. Only slowly is she able to accept the time-shift that has landed her in the middle of 21st Century Britain, where attitudes, technology and morals differ dramatically from her own. Equally slowly, she comes to love and respect Simon Patterson, the doctor who originally cared for her namesake in London, who now faithfully continues to support and advise her in her growing journey of awareness. Steadily overcoming the many obstacles in her path, Grace eventually opens a new village school and marries Simon. When the school is formally opened by Grazia, regarded by the village as daughter of the benefactors of the school, the two Graces finally meet, sharing their experiences and finding a deep mutual liking and respect. Grazia, now a widow and a very old lady, demonstrates how a lifetime of Romani's love has transformed her: the emotionally raw, challenging young woman that she was before her life swap has become wise, generous and thoughtful. Grace Patterson is able to gain some understanding of the relationship that flowered between her mother and Grazia, and finally confides that she is pregnant. Later that night Grazia passes away, joyful and fulfilled to the end, believing that she has seen her beloved Romani one last time. She arranges to have the striking ring worn by Grazia, which contains Romani's ashes, remodelled to include Grazia's own, and she wears this to celebrate both their memories. In the Pattersons' daughter, Grazia Angelo, the lives and unique qualities of the two Graces are combined and celebrated.