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Image for "We Keep the Dead Close"

We Keep the Dead Close

Becky Cooper

Description

You have to remember, he reminded me, that Harvard is older than the U.S. government. You have to remember because Harvard doesn't let you forget.


1969: the height of counterculture and the year universities would seek to curb the unruly spectacle of student protest; the winter that Harvard University would begin the tumultuous process of merging with Radcliffe, its all-female sister school; and the year that Jane Britton, an ambitious twenty-three-year-old graduate student in Harvard's Anthropology Department and daughter of Radcliffe Vice President J. Boyd Britton, would be found bludgeoned to death in her Cambridge, Massachusetts apartment. Forty years later, Becky Cooper a curious undergrad, will hear the first whispers of the story. In the first telling the body was nameless. The story was this: a Harvard student had had an affair with her professor, and the professor had murdered her in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology because she'd threatened to talk about the affair. Though the rumor proves false, the story that unfolds, one that Cooper will follow for ten years, is even more complex: a tale of gender inequality in academia, a 'cowboy culture' among empowered male elites, the silencing effect of institutions, and our compulsion to rewrite the stories of female victims. We Keep the Dead Close is a memoir of mirrors, misogyny, and murder. It is at once a rumination on the violence and oppression that rules our revered institutions, a ghost story reflecting one young woman's past onto another's present, and a love story for a girl who was lost to history.

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My Friend Anna

Rachel DeLoache Williams

Description

Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel DeLoache Williams’s new friend Anna Delvey, a self-proclaimed German heiress, was worldly and ambitious. She was also generous—picking up the tab for lavish dinners at Le Coucou, infrared sauna sessions at HigherDOSE, drinks at the 11 Howard Library bar, and regular workout sessions with a celebrity personal trainer.

When Anna proposed an all-expenses-paid trip to Marrakech at the five-star La Mamounia hotel, Rachel jumped at the chance. But when Anna’s credit cards mysteriously stopped working, the dream vacation quickly took a dark turn. Anna asked Rachel to begin fronting costs—first for flights, then meals and shopping, and, finally, for their $7,500-per-night private villa. Before Rachel knew it, more than $62,000 had been charged to her credit cards. Anna swore she would reimburse Rachel the moment they returned to New York.

Back in Manhattan, the repayment never materialized, and a shocking pattern of deception emerged. Rachel learned that Anna had left a trail of deceit—and unpaid bills—wherever she’d been. Mortified, Rachel contacted the district attorney, and in a stunning turn of events, found herself helping to bring down one of the city’s most notorious con artists.

With breathless pacing and in-depth reporting from the person who experienced it firsthand, My Friend Anna is an unforgettable true story of money, power, greed, and female friendship.

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Hell in the Heartland

Jax Miller

Description

On December 30, 1999, in rural Oklahoma, sixteen-year-old Ashley Freeman and her best friend, Lauria Bible, were having a sleepover. The next morning, the Freeman family trailer was in flames and both girls were missing.

While rumors of drug debts, revenge, and police corruption abounded in the years that followed, the case remained unsolved and the girls were never found.

In 2015, crime writer Jax Miller--who had been haunted by the case--decided to travel to Oklahoma to find out what really happened on that winter night in 1999, and why the story was still simmering more than fifteen years later. What she found was more than she could have ever bargained for: evidence of jaw-dropping levels of police negligence, entire communities ravaged by methamphetamine addiction, and a series of interconnected murders with an ominously familiar pattern.

These forgotten towns were wild, lawless, and home to some very dark secrets.

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Avery

Ken Kratz

Description

It's time to set the record straight about Steven Avery.

The Netflix series Making a Murderer was a runaway hit, with over 19 million US viewers in the first 35 days. The series left many with the opinion that Steven Avery, a man falsely imprisoned for almost 20 years on a previous, unrelated assault charge, had been framed by a corrupt police force and district attorney's office for the murder of a young photographer. Viewers were outraged, and hundreds of thousands demanded a pardon for Avery. The chief villain of the series? Ken Kratz, the special prosecutor who headed the investigation and trial. Kratz's later misdeeds—prescription drug abuse and sexual harassment—only cemented belief in his corruption.

This book tells you what Making a Murderer didn't.

While indignation at the injustice of his first imprisonment makes it tempting to believe in his innocence, Avery: The Case Against Steven Avery and What Making a Murderer Gets Wrong and the evidence shared inside—examined thoroughly and dispassionately—prove that, in this case, the criminal justice system worked just as it should.

With Avery, Ken Kratz puts doubts about Steven Avery's guilt to rest. In this exclu- sive insider's look into the controversial case, Kratz lets the evidence tell the story, sharing details and insights unknown to the public. He reveals the facts Making a Murderer conveniently left out and then candidly addresses the aftermath—openly discussing, for the first time, his own struggle with addiction that led him to lose everything.

Avery systematically erases the uncertainties introduced by the Netflix series, confirming, once and for all, that Steven Avery is guilty of the murder of Teresa Halbach.

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There's a Witch in Your Book

Tom Fletcher

Description

A grumpy little witch has thrown a magic spell at you! If you can capture it, you can use your finger wand to make magic yourself in this interactive book. But, be careful! Your bewitched finger wand might be more powerful than you think! 

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Image for "Alice and Greta"

Alice and Greta

Steven J. Simmons

Description

Alice is a good witch. And Greta... well, Greta and trouble are never far apart. Alice spends her time helping others by weaving her enchanting spells. All Greta does is wreak havoc. But when a forgotten spell comes back to haunt her, Greta's stuck learning something she should have learned long ago.

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One Witch

Laura Leuck

Description

One witch, on a hill, had an empty pot to fill. So what does that one witch do? She goes around to visit all her fiendish friends, naturally; two cats, three scarecrows, four goblins, five vampires, six mummies, seven owls, eight ghosts, nine skeletons, and ten werewolves.

At every stop they contribute ghoulishly tasty ingredients until the witch has enough to make a properly gruesome stew for her party. Then, of course, she must send out her invitations; to the ten werewolves, nine
skeletons, eight ghosts, seven owls, six mummies...

Count up and count down again as one witch gets ready for a fun-filled monster bash. Come along, they've got a special surprise waiting just...FOR...YOU!

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Image for "The Witches' Supermarket"

The Witches' Supermarket

Susan Meddaugh

Description

While trick-or-treating, Helen and her dog, Martha, happen upon a very unusual supermarket--for witches and cats only--where they are most unwelcome. When Helen and Martha are discovered, they need luck and lots of Halloween magic to escape! Full-color illustrations.

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A Spoonful of Frogs

Casey Lyall

Description

A witch's favorite treat is frog soup. Luckily, it's healthy and easy to make. To give it that extra kick and a pop of color, the key ingredient is a spoonful of frogs. But how do you keep the frogs on the spoon? They hop, they leap, they hide . . . and they escape. What is a poor witch to do?

 

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Room on the Broom

Julia Donaldson

Description

The witch and her cat couldn't be happier, flying through the sky on their broomstick-until the witch drops her hat, then her bow, then her wand! Luckily, three helpful animals find the missing items and all they want in return is a ride on the broomstick. But is there room on the broom for so many new friends? And when disaster strikes, will they be able to save the witch from the clutches of a hungry dragon?
 

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I Am a Witch's Cat

Harriet Muncaster

Description

In this whimsical picture book, a little girl believes her mother is a good witch—and she is a special witch's cat! After all, every good witch needs a black cat. Together, this playful girl and her loving mom are a perfect twosome, whether they are mixing potions, growing magical plants, or dreaming of wild broomstick rides under a full moon.

 

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Image for "Strega Nona and Her Tomatoes"

Strega Nona and Her Tomatoes

Tomie dePaola

Description

Strega Nona is excited! The tomatoes in her garden are ripe, and she picks enough to fill a basket. She wants to give twenty-four tomatoes to the convent, and counts them out on the kitchen table. She is in the middle of counting when Signora Goat starts to eat the laundry. While Strega Nona is outside, Big Anthony sees the tomatoes and wants to help. Poor Big Anthony. He puts the tomatoes back in the basket!

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A Very Brave Witch

Alison McGhee

Description

On the far side of town in a big dark house lives a brave little witch. She has heard lots and lots about that very human holiday Halloween, and even though she thinks she knows what humans are like, she has never, ever seen Halloween for herself.

Until one very special Halloween comes along . . .

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Lulu Goes to Witch School

Jane O'Connor

Description

Lulu the witch girl is a little nervous about her first day of school, but she heads off with her broom and Dracula lunch box. She immediately loves pretty new teacher, Miss Slime, especially her wart. Lulu’s first flying lesson around the cemetery goes great.
 
There’s only one thing she doesn’t like about witch school—curly-haired Sandy Witch who seems to do everything better than Lulu.
 
 

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Image for "Hansel & Gretel"

Hansel & Gretel

Neil Gaiman

Description

Bestselling author Neil Gaiman and fine artist Lorenzo Mattotti join forces to create Hansel and Gretel, a stunning book that's at once as familiar as a dream and as evocative as a nightmare. Mattotti's sweeping ink illustrations capture the terror and longing found in the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Gaiman crafts an original text filled with his signature wit and pathos that is sure to become a favorite of readers everywhere, young and old.

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What Were the Salem Witch Trials?

Joan Holub

Description

Something wicked was brewing in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It started when two girls, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, began having hysterical fits. Soon after, other local girls claimed they were being pricked with pins. With no scientific explanation available, the residents of Salem came to one conclusion: it was witchcraft! Over the next year and a half, nineteen people were convicted of witchcraft and hanged while more languished in prison as hysteria swept the colony. Author Joan Holub gives readers and inside look at this sinister chapter in history.

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Zip! Zoom! On a Broom

Teri Sloat

Description

One goes zip,two go zoom.Three witches glide from room to room.
So begins this witchy counting story. Counting up from 1 to 10 and back down again, ten witches jump on a broom--and then fall off one by one! Written in pitch-perfect rhyme, and full of fun read-aloud energy that will have kids memorizing lines and clamoring to read the book again and again, this book hits the mash-up sweet spot between an important concept and Halloween fun!

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Image for "Leila, the Perfect Witch"

Leila, the Perfect Witch

Flavia Z. Drago

Description

Leila Wayward is a little witch who excels at everything she does. She’s the fastest flier, the most cunning conjuror, and the most superb shape-shifter. She has won trophies for potions, herbology, and alchemy—and now she dreams of winning the Magnificent Witchy Cake-off! As the youngest in a long line of masters of the Dark Arts of Patisserie, Leila wants her entry to be perfect. But even with the most bewitching of recipes, she realizes a terrible truth: she’s a disaster in the kitchen. Luckily, Leila has three magical sisters who are happy to share their culinary secrets with her. What’s more, Leila discovers that baking with them is fun! Win or lose, she has already tasted the sweetest thing of all: acceptance—with a pinch of nightshade and a bit of mandrake. Filled with expressive and fancifully offbeat illustrations, Flavia Z. Drago’s enchanting story of trying your hardest despite your imperfections is sure to delight little witches and novice bakers alike.

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Image for "Little Witch Hazel"

Little Witch Hazel

Phoebe Wahl

Description

Little Witch Hazel is a tiny witch who lives in the forest, helping creatures big and small. She's a midwife, an intrepid explorer, a hard worker and a kind friend.

In this four-season volume, Little Witch Hazel rescues an orphaned egg, goes sailing on a raft, solves the mystery of a haunted stump and makes house calls to fellow forest dwellers. But when Little Witch Hazel needs help herself, will she get it in time?

 

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Image for "The Curious Little Witch"

The Curious Little Witch

Lieve Baeten

Description

What happens when a little witch gets curious? Lizzy is a curious little witch. Late one night she spots an old house all lit up when everyone else is asleep, and she can’t help herself. She just has to investigate. 

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Image for "The Sweetest Witch Around"

The Sweetest Witch Around

Alison McGhee

Description

It’s Halloween night, and one very brave witch has decided to teach her little sister all about humans and what they enjoy, including some yucky stuff called “candy.” But when it seems the little Witchling thinks candy is yum, her big sister flies off to set her straight—and then she gets stuck in a tree! Good thing the little Witchling isn’t afraid to be brave!

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Image for "The Truth about Witches"

The Truth about Witches

Eric Braun

Description

Witches have charmed us for years in popular fairy tales. Have you ever wondered what witches look like? What do you think witches use to cast spells? Hop on your broom, and fly through the pages of this book to find out the truth about witches.

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Image for "The Little Green Witch"

The Little Green Witch

Barbara Barbieri McGrath

Description

The little green witch has a problem: her lazy monster friends just won't help her make a horrible pumpkin pie. Not ghost, nor bat, nor gremlin.

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Image for "Lulu and the Witch Baby"

Lulu and the Witch Baby

Jane O'Connor

Description

It's just not fair! No matter what a mess she makes, nobody ever gets mad at Witch Baby. Nobody except Lulu Witch, who cooks a magic brew that makes her baby sister disappear. But then she begins to worry that Mama Witch will get mad—very mad. Can Lulu wish Witch Baby back?

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Mexican Gothic

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Description

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.   
 
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.
 
Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness. 
 
And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.

“It’s as if a supernatural power compels us to turn the pages of the gripping Mexican Gothic.”—The Washington Post

“Mexican Gothic is the perfect summer horror read, and marks Moreno-Garcia with her hypnotic and engaging prose as one of the genre’s most exciting talents.”Nerdist

“A period thriller as rich in suspense as it is in lush ’50s atmosphere.”Entertainment Weekly

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The Book of Unknown Americans

Cristina Henríquez

Description

When fifteen-year-old Maribel Rivera sustains a terrible injury, the Riveras leave behind a comfortable life in Mexico and risk everything to come to the United States so that Maribel can have the care she needs. Once they arrive, it’s not long before Maribel attracts the attention of Mayor Toro, the son of one of their new neighbors, who sees a kindred spirit in this beautiful, damaged outsider. Their love story sets in motion events that will have profound repercussions for everyone involved. Here Henríquez seamlessly interweaves the story of these star-crossed lovers, and of the Rivera and Toro families, with the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America.

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Love in the Time of Cholera

Gabriel García Márquez

Description

From the Nobel Prize winning author of One Hundred Years of Solitude comes a masterly evocation of an unrequited passion so strong that it binds two people's lives together for more than half a century. In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career, he whiles away the years in 622 affairs, yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he does so again.With humorous sagacity and consummate craft, the author traces an exceptional half-century of unrequited love. Though it seems never to be conveniently contained, love flows through the novel in many wonderful guises, joyful, melancholy, enriching, and ever changing.

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Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes

Description

Edith Grossman's definitive English translation of the Spanish masterpiece. Widely regarded as the world's first modern novel, and one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. Unless you read Spanish, you've never read Don Quixote.

"Though there have been many valuable English translations of Don Quixote, I would commend Edith Grossman's version for the extraordinarily high quality of her prose. The Knight and Sancho are so eloquently rendered by Grossman that the vitality of their characterization is more clearly conveyed than ever before. There is also an astonishing contextualization of Don Quixote and Sancho in Grossman's translation that I believe has not been achieved before. The spiritual atmosphere of a Spain already in steep decline can be felt throughout, thanks to her heightened quality of diction.

Grossman might be called the Glenn Gould of translators, because she, too, articulates every note. Reading her amazing mode of finding equivalents in English for Cervantes's darkening vision is an entrance into a further understanding of why this great book contains within itself all the novels that have followed in its sublime wake."

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One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Description

One of the 20th century's enduring works, "One Hundred Years of Solitude is a widely beloved and acclaimed novel known throughout the world, and the ultimate achievement in a Nobel Prize- winning career.

The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendi a family. It is a rich and brilliant chronicle of life and death, and the tragicomedy of humankind. In the noble, ridiculous, beautiful, and tawdry story of the Buendi a family, one sees all of humanity, just as in the history, myths, growth, and decay of Macondo, one sees all of Latin America.

Love and lust, war and revolution, riches and poverty, youth and senility -- the variety of life, the endlessness of death, the search for peace and truth -- these universal themes dominate the novel. Whether he is describing an affair of passion or the voracity of capitalism and the corruption of government, Gabriel Garci a Ma rquez always writes with the simplicity, ease, and purity that are the mark of a master.

Alternately reverential and comical, "One Hundred Years of Solitude weaves the political, personal, and spiritual to bring a new consciousness to storytelling. Translated into dozens of languages, this stunning work is no less than an accounting of the history of the human race.

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Easy Quilt Projects

Better Homes & Gardens

Description

41 quilt projects from American Patchwork & Quilting

Are you a beginner quilter looking for a place to start learning this time-honored craft? Are you a more advanced quilter looking for quick and gifty projects that you can complete in a snap?

From the editors of American Patchwork & Quilting comes a collection of ideas and inspiration for making beautiful quilt projects. This book is packed with gorgeous photography and easy-to-follow instructions for making everything from throws and bed-sized quilts to bags and pincushions.

  • Beautiful full-color photographs of every project
  • Full-size patterns for you to tear out and use again and again
  • Includes free 1-year subscription to American Patchwork & Quilting magazine

Plus, each project includes a quilt diagram, assembly instructions, and schematic illustrations!

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Make, Sew and Mend

Bernadette Banner

Description

Whether you are just getting started with sustainable fashion and need to alter your new secondhand finds, or you want an introduction to sewing techniques for making your own clothes, Bernadette Banner’s signature voice will guide you through all the traditional stitches and techniques you need to extend the life of your favorite pieces and take fashion into
your own hands!

From tips and tricks on choosing your materials and preparing your fabric for sewing to more complex techniques like mending small holes, adding pockets to garments, making your own buttons and beyond—this book has everything you need. Complete with step-by-step photos and insight into what alterations each sewing technique is best suited for, Bernadette walks you through every step of your sewing journey. For added inspiration, this book also includes profiles on exciting voices in the historic sewing community and their perspectives on how taking fashion into their own hands has changed their lives for the better. Make, Sew and Mend is the perfect foundation for beginner sewers to start making their fashion their own.

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DIY Thrift Flip

April Yang

Description

Join the thrifting revolution! DIY Thrift Flip teaches you how to find, upcycle, and customize secondhand clothing for sustainable style with simple sewing instructions.

Expert thrift-flipper April Yang, aka Coolirpa, takes you through every phase of the process, including how to find the best clothes and fabrics and easy ways to alter and tailor shirts, dresses, pants, coats, and more.
 

  • Getting Started. Essential materials and tools, setting up a workspace, organizing supplies, sewing machine basics, and a concise fabric primer.
  • How to Shop for Alterable Clothes. Where to shop, what types of clothes to look for, what can and can’t be fixed, and how to gauge size when you can’t try something on.
  • Altering Basics. How to use patterns to alter clothes or parts of garments, techniques for altering without using patterns, the basics of garment altering, adding sleeves, hems, and pockets, and how to custom-tailor an altered piece for a great fit.
  • Projects. Beginner to intermediate-level projects inspire and guide you along your own thrift flips.
  • QR codes give you access to techniques, tutorials, and project details.


Also included are basic sewing techniques, sewing and clothing terminology, clothing silhouettes, how to measure the body, and more.

With DIY Thrift Flip, you’ll learn how to build a wardrobe of original pieces that shows off your unique style and boosts your creativity in the process.

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The Serger's Technique Bible

Julia Hincks

Description

For fast and professional edging, hemming, seaming, and decorative stitching, you simply can't beat a serging machine. This all-skill-level book is the perfect guide to make sure you get the most out of your new machine (or out of that old serger that you've never got the hang of!). Photographs and step-by-step instructions guide you through the essential techniques, showing you how to set up your machine, how to adjust the settings to get the best results on a range of different fabrics, and how to edge your fabrics quickly with perfect results. Try out different feet for your machine to help with gathering, attaching piping, elastic, and beading. Within the chapters there are troubleshooting tips and quick fixes for skipped stitches, snapped threads, and uneven stitching. The quick construction section will take you through a range of projects to help practice and perfect your skills.

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How to Sew Clothes

Amelia Greenhall

Description

Learn to sew simple, stylish, wear-everywhere garments with How to Sew Clothes. Each chapter is filled with super easy instructions and patterns written for sewists of all skill levels.

"If you can sew a straight line, you can sew anything (and, in this book, we'll teach you how to sew a straight line!). We will help you get started from scratch, with detailed sewing instructions and techniques that will soon become second nature. We'll explain why you're doing things, and when it is important to do things a certain way, and when you can improvise and not worry! We'll tell you everything you need to know to sew your own clothes and bags--and to have fun in the process." -- Amelia Greenhall and Amy Bornman, @AllWellWorkshop

Whether you are just learning how to sew or want to reignite your excitement for sewing, How to Sew Clothes makes sewing feel possible. Greenhall and Bornman's illustrated guidance and conversational how-tos feel just like an inviting, in-person workshop. This book will have you wanting to sew every project (and will give you all the tools to make it happen). It is also a great read, even when you aren't in the mood to sew. How many sewing books can say that?


 

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Quilting Illusions

Celia Eddy

Description

Quilting is a fine art, and this instructive, beautifully designed volume carries that art to new heights. Eye-fooler quilts play with our sight and imagination, creating wonderful illusions in shapes and colors. Though complex to look at, these quilts are surprisingly easy to make when quilters are given sound direction. Here are instructions for more than 40 dazzling designs, the patterns falling into the following major divisions:

* Perspective and 3D effects * Circles * Grids * Interlacing patterns * Counterchange * Transparency effects

Here too are general instructions for making any quilt, with details on necessary tools and equipment, suggested fabrics and colors, the use of grids and templates, methods of sew-ing, instruction on assembling pieces, and techniques for finishing. Readers will also find a helpful list of resources for materials, as well as a bibliography and a glossary. Here's a book that deserves a place in every sewing enthusiast's personal library. More than 250 color illustrations.

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Quilt Inspirations from Africa

Kaye England

Description

Containing many designs, this book offers quilters useful ideas and techniques. It features colourful photographs of design motifs in totem poles, carnival masks, murals, and more. It also includes sixteen illustrated patterns that invite quilters to create their own Africa-inspired quilts.

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Return to Elm Creek

Jennifer Chiaverini

Description

Quilters can get reacquainted with their favorite characters from the Elm Creek Quilts novels as they browse through projects for a dozen brand-new quilts. Full color.

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Quilting Line and Color

Yoshiko Jinzenji

Description

Looking to fuse Japanese design and modern techniques in your quilting projects? With Quilting Line + Color, you will explore color, shape, stitching, and fabric ideas from internationally known weaver, dyer, fabric artist, teacher, and quilter Yoshiko Jinzenji.

Yoshiko brings a fresh, contemporary vision to the quilting scene with more than 30 gorgeous projects, accompanied by precise instructions and detailed illustrations. From bed-size quilts to bags and pillows, you will learn to create innovative pieces while trying out new and traditional techniques. In Quilting Line + Color, Yoshiko delves into the interplay of shape and fabric, set off to striking effect with white fabric and stitching. Her asymmetrical and graphic use of color takes on a fresh, painterly feel. She shares her artistry and philosophy with you as she teaches you how to cut, piece, and stitch a variety of designs--from patchwork and innovative uses of applique and reverse applique to layered transparent fabrics and handstitching.

Quilting Line + Color gives you an uncomplicated approach to adventurous yet beautifully balanced quilts.

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The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters

Sherri L. Wood

Description

Forget step-by-step instructions and copycat designs. In The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters, artist Sherri Lynn Wood presents a flexible approach to quilting that breaks free of old paradigms.

Instead of traditional instructions, Sherri Lynn Wood presents 10 frameworks (or scores) that create a guiding, but not limiting, structure. To help quilters gain confidence, she also offers detailed lessons for stitching techniques key to improvisation, design and spontaneity exercises, and lessons on color.

Every quilt made from one of Wood's scores will have common threads, but each one will look different because it reflects the maker's unique interpretation. Featured throughout the book are Wood's own quilts and a gallery of contributor works chosen from among the hundreds submitted when she invited volunteers to test her scores during the making of this groundbreaking work.

 

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Sew Organized for the Busy Girl

Heidi Staples

Description

Fit sewing into your busy lifestyle with practical tips that will help you put hours back on the clock! Heidi Staples, a creative mom of three, will help you organize your sewing space and works-in-progress so they are ready to roll at a moment's notice. Revive your creative life and make the most of your time with easy-to-implement advice. Stitch up 23 projects, ranging from handcrafted quilts to home decor, children's gifts, and attractive storage cases. With an arsenal of time-savers, you'll finally finish those projects while enjoying a little "you" time at the sewing machine.

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Sew-It-Yourself Home Decor

Karen Coetzee

Description

Coetzee and Berght present 30 home decor projects using fabrics accompanied by colour illustrations and detailed instructions. The objective is to enable the reader to create distinctive and stylish designs by paying close attention to detail.

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The Feisty Stitcher

Susan Wasinger

Description

New from the author of ECO CRAFT: a unique approach to stitchery Meet the most creative power tool in a stitcher's arsenal: the ordinary sewing machine Cutting-edge author Susan Wasinger turns it into a source of fun and experimentation with more than 20 innovative projects--some with surprising variations.Susan encourages sewers to play with their machines, giving them eye-opening techniques to try: stitch without thread to puncture non-fabric materials; use leather needles to sew through layers of fused felt; reorient seams to transform flat projects into 3-D. Along with the familiar fabrics and recycled garments, she gets into the spirit of exploration with unexpected materials, from paper and tire tubes to neoprene. And with the skill level set at beginning to intermediate, every crafter can join in "Projects include: "Bags and Totes Home decor and gift items Wearables, such as hats and other accessories

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Sewing Bits and Pieces

Sandi Henderson

Description

Sewing with scraps is an economical way to make the most of your designer fabrics-as well as a fun way to use up a stash of your favorite leftovers for smaller projects. Michael Miller fabric designer Sandi Henderson holds to the adage "waste not, want not" to deliver a collection of innovative sewing projects that lets you make the most of bits and pieces of your beloved fabrics.

From a market skirt to a butterfly pin, from an embellished table cloth to hip hair accessories, Sewing Bits and Pieces gives you 35 sewing projects to make unique pieces that are perfect for gift-giving (or keeping for yourself)!

  • Features gorgeous full-color photography throughout
  • Detailed instructions walk you through each project
  • Sandi's popular Portabello Pixie blog is read by thousands every day

Packed with tons of fun, innovative projects, Sewing Bits and Pieces will have you creating sewing masterpieces in no time.

 

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Bag Bazaar

Megan Avery

Description

Handbags are hotter than ever— but so are their designer price tags. There’s never been a better time to sew your own fashionable bags, and it has never been easier with designer Megan Avery as your teacher. InBag Bazaar, Avery presents 25 bags that even a sewing newbie can handle, in a variety of styles sure to match any look.

For years, Avery has hosted bag-making workshops in her boutique. Here she shares her expert advice as well as the blueprints for her most popular designs. Beginning with a guide to basic sewing techniques, Avery then features patterns for bags that range from funky to sophisticated, from a roomy backpack and an adjustable-strap messenger bag to an evening wristlet and a pleated clutch. Also included are patterns for specialty bags such as an eco-friendly grocery tote, a laptop sleeve, and a garment bag. Need extra pockets or longer handles? All of the patterns are completely customizable. Every design is accompanied by a hip, modern illustration, and—best of all—Avery offers all the encouragement and know-how you need to invent your own unique creations.

With patterns for everything from clutches and hobos to cosmetic bags and beach totes,Bag Bazaarshows you how to create the perfect, custom accessory—in less time than it would take to shop for one.

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Girl with a Sewing Machine

Jenniffer Taylor

Description

This beautiful, instructive book from The Great British Sewing Bees Jenniffer Taylor shows you how to make and adapt your own clothes without the need for shop-bought patterns. Using Jenniffer's fun and imaginative ideas, this book will teach you how to get started transforming unloved items of clothing into new and exciting outfits; how to customise clothes with doilies, tassels, tie-dyeing and block printing; and finally how to measure yourself, create patterns and make clothes from scratch, including dresses, skirts, tops, trousers and a coat.
 

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Baby Quilts

Linda Neubauer

Description

Quilters love to make baby quilts as presents. Here are the projects they're looking for: quick, creative, and above all, adorable. Adorable Baby Quilts is the only book with quilts in many popular nursery looks from bold color to sweet vintage, and a variety of machine-quilt techniques including original block designs, foundation piecing, applique, and whole-cloth quilting. Included are quilts of wonderfully soft and textural fabrics, a quilt to be signed by family and friends, and an heirloom christening quilt. All the quilts are cuddly and baby-safe and can be used for crib, travel, or wall decoration. Each quilt is photographed flat, as quilters prefer, and there are step-by-step instructions with diagrams and patterns. These quilts can easily be finished in time for the baby shower, and then will be treasured forever.

 

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Simple Appeal

Kim Diehl

Description

With this generous collection of 14 brand-new charming quilts, Kim Diehl uses modern time-saving techniques and rich fabric pairings to pay homage to our quilting heritage. Create simple, beautiful patterns and motifs in warm, welcoming projects for decorating.

  • Choose from appealing projects ranging from a pincushion to table toppers, lap quilts, wall quilts, and a bed quilt
  • Learn a variety of techniques: traditional patchwork, invisible machine applique and wool applique on cotton backgrounds
  • Use Kim's popular "Pin Point" tip boxes throughout and enjoy the wonderful photography her books are known for
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Scrap Quilt Sensation

Katharine Guerrier

Description

Provides advice on how to make scrap quilts and includes 12 step-by-step projects, with advice on selecting the right fabrics from your stash, and how to combine them for best effect. Featuring 12 beautiful scrap quilt designs, many with a unique contemporary twist on traditional designs, this book will delight and inspire quilters young and old! The book builds in complexity, from very simple scrap quilts at the beginning that are suitable for a novice, to more advanced or experimental designs. All the pieces can be rotary cut and quick-piecing methods are used to speed up the construction, but if you prefer to work with paper templates these can be cut using the measurements given in each pattern.

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First-Time Quilt Making

Becky Johnston

Description

A primer for newcomers to the world of quilting uses six simple lessons and four easy projects to demonstrate the art of quilting, with sections on selecting fabric, cutting fabric, sewing straight seams, layering the quilt "sandwich," quilting and tying, and binding and labeling, along with tips on essential tools, optional techniques, step-by-step photos and diagrams, and more.

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Jabberwalking

Juan Felipe Herrera

Description

Juan Felipe Herrera, the first Mexican-American Poet Laureate in the USA, is sharing secrets: how to turn your wonder at the world around you into weird, wild, incandescent poetry.

Can you walk and talk at the same time? How about Jabber Walk? Can you write and draw and walk and journal all at the same time? If not, you’re in luck: exuberant, blue-cheesy cilantro man Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the United States, is here to teach you everything he knows about being a real-life, bonified, jabberwalking poet! Jabberwalkers write and speak for themselves and others no matter where their feet may take them — to jabberwalk is to be a poet on the move. And there’s no stopping once you’re a Jabberwalker, writing fast, fast, fast, scribble-poem-burbles-on-the-run. Scribble what you see! Scribble what you hear! It’s all out there — vámonos!

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The Wind Knows My Name

Isabel Allende

Description

Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht—the night his family loses everything. As her child’s safety becomes ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on a Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.

Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Díaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Durán, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother.

Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers—and never stop dreaming.

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I Really Want to See You, Grandma

Taro Gomi

Description

Yumi and her grandmother have the same great idea: They want to see each other. So they each head out to do just that, only to completely miss each other along the way! No problem—they'll just head back home and wait for the other to return. The trouble is that they have the same great idea—again—resulting in the ultimate missed connection! Will this duo ever find each other? Leave it to bestselling author-illustrator Taro Gomi to spin an action-packed story that sweetly, and humorously, celebrates the powerful grandparent-child bond.

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Lucky Pennies and Hot Chocolate

Carol Diggory Shields

Description

On a weekend visit a boy and his grandfather share their likes and dislikes. Both enjoy trading knock-knock jokes, playing baseball, and reading. Both hate wearing new clothes, eating funny-looking food, and cleaning up. And on the very last page the unexpected narrator is revealed -- Grandpa has been telling this story!

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How to Babysit a Grandpa

Jean Reagan

Description

Here's everything a kid needs to know to spend a fun-filled day with grandpa! Written in a how-to style, the narrator gives important tips for "babysitting" a grandpa, including what to eat for snack (anything dipped in ketchup, ice cream topped with cookies, cookies topped with ice cream) what to do on a walk (find lizards and dandelion puffs, be on the lookout for puddles and sprinklers), and how to play with a grandpa (build a pirate cave, put on a scary play).
From the author-illustrator team behind the New York Times bestselling HOW TO... books comes a funny and heartwarming celebration of grandpas and all that they do! This is a great gift for or from a grandparent, and perfect for lap reading when Grandpa comes to visit!

 

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Never Forget Eleanor

Jason June

Description

Elijah loves spending time with his grandma Eleanor. She knows all the best words to answer tricky crossword puzzles and to tell the most beautiful stories to her family and friends.

 

 

Everyone calls her "Never Forget Eleanor" because she remembers every word she reads and person she meets. Lately though, Elijah has started to notice Grandma Eleanor forgetting little things.

So when Grandma Eleanor doesn't show up for her Saturday story session, Elijah will need to find a way to use her favorite words and become the storyteller himself to bring her home.

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Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa

Anna Dewdney

Description

It’s an exciting day for Llama Llama; he’s going to visit Gram and Grandpa Llama and spend the night! His first night away from home….and from Mama. But he makes sure to pack everything he needs. And there are so many fun things to do with Gram and Grandpa. It’s not until he gets ready for bed that he realizes that he’s forgotten something important. Fuzzy Llama! Fortunately, Grandpa Llama has a wonderful solution and soon Llama Llama is having sweet dreams.

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The Grandma Book

Todd Parr

Description

The Grandma Book portrays the different ways grandmothers show their grandchildren love, from offering advice and babysitting to making things and giving lots of kisses.

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Very Little Red Riding Hood

Teresa Heapy

Description

This is the story of the Very Little Red Riding Hood. Very Little Red Riding Hood is little.Very little. She's off to her Grandmama's for a sleepover, and she won't let anything stand in her way. Not even a Wolf.

Join Very Little Red Riding Hood on a very BIG adventure in the first book of this adorable new picture book series.

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Drawn Together

Minh Lê

Description

When a young boy visits his grandfather, their lack of a common language leads to confusion, frustration, and silence. But as they sit down to draw together, something magical happens-with a shared love of art and storytelling, the two form a bond that goes beyond words.

 

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I Love My Glam-Ma!

Samantha Berger

Description

A joyful celebration of grandmothers who are young at heart, adventurous, and find a bit of glamour in everything they do. Whether these glam-mas are building sandcastles, riding with dolphins, or turning blankets into reading forts and super capes, they live each day with a playful spirit -- just like their grandchildren.

 

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Dadaji's Paintbrush

Rashmi Sirdeshpande

Description

Once, in a tiny village in India, there was a young boy who loved to paint. He lived with his grandfather, who taught him to paint with his fingers, to make paints from marigolds and brushes made from jasmine flowers. Sometimes, the village children would watch them painting together, and the boy's grandfather would invite them to join in.

They didn't have much, but they had each other.

After his grandfather dies, the boy notices a little box wrapped in string with a note that read: "From Dadaji, with love," with his grandfather's best paintbrush tucked away inside. But he feels he will never want to paint again.

Will the boy overcome his grief and find joy in painting and his dadaji's memory again?

 

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My Grandparents Love Me

Claire Freedman

Description

From the illustrator of I Love Dad and I Love Mom comes a joyful celebration of grandparents everywhere and the special bonds they share with their grandchildren.

I’m off to Gran and Grandpa’s,
with a big smile on my face.
I always feel wrapped up in love,
when I stay at their place!


A visit to Gran and Grandpa’s is always a special time filled with sweet treats, fun, and love.

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The Berenstain Bears and the Week at Grandma's

Stan Berenstain

Description

When Mama and Papa have to go out of town, Brother and Sister get to go and stay with their grandparents. It will be a fun-filled visit where the cubs will eat cookies, explore the attic, fish, and even attend a hoedown

 

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My Grandma and Me

Mina Javaherbin

Description

In a true tale of a young girl in Iran and her grandmother, this beautiful ode to family celebrates small moments of love that become lifelong memories.

In this big universe full of many moons, I have traveled and seen many wonders, but I have never loved anything or anyone the way I love my grandma.

While Mina is growing up in Iran, the center of her world is her grandmother. Whether visiting friends next door, going to the mosque for midnight prayers during Ramadan, or taking an imaginary trip around the planets, Mina and her grandma are never far apart. At once deeply personal and utterly universal, Mina Javaherbin’s words make up a love letter of the rarest sort: the kind that shares a bit of its warmth with every reader. Soft, colorful, and full of intricate patterns, Lindsey Yankey’s illustrations feel like a personal invitation into the coziest home, and the adoration between Mina and her grandma is evident on every page.

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The Blue Pickup

Natasha Tripplett

Description

A charming story about a young girl who loves fixing automobiles with her grandfather on the warm grounds of Jamaica, Natasha Tripplett's debut picture book is a perfect pick for fans of My Papi Has a Motorcycle and The Old Truck.

 

 

Ju-Girl's favorite days are the ones spent with Granddad in his garage, fixing cars and hearing stories about his old blue pickup.

Granddad used to drive the blue pickup all over the island, bringing happiness to many. And now it just sits in the driveway.

One day, Ju-Girl asks Granddad if he'd ever fix it, and he's unsure at first. But the pair soon finds out just what it takes to restore the memory of the blue pickup and to create new stories along the way.

This heartwarming layered tale, brought to life with lush illustrations by Monica Mikai (Thank a Farmer), reminds us about the joy of repairing things with our hands and preserving stories with our hearts.

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The Star Festival

Moni Ritchie Hadley

Description

anabata Matsuri, the Star Festival, celebrates a popular folktale: The Emperor of the Heavens separates his daughter, Orihime, from her love, Hikoboshi, all year--but on this day the two stars finally reunite on a bridge across the Milky Way. For Keiko, her mama, and her grandmother, Tanabata is about making tanzaku wishes, taking in the colorful decorations, and eating delicious food like nagashi somen and shaved ice. But when Obasaan gets lost in the crowd, Keiko and Mama must make their own bridge to find her again--and see if their tanzaku comes true.

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Like So

Ruth Forman

Description

Told from Nana’s point of view, this simple, affirming, and comforting read-aloud shows how every family’s love is natural and connected to the world around us. Just as the sun loves the day, the moon loves the waves, and the night sky loves the star glow…so is our love for each other: innate, wondrous, and infinite.

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Abuelita and I Make Flan

Adriana Hernández Bergstrom

Description

Anita loves to bake with her abuela, especially when they are using her grandmother’s special recipes for Cuban desserts like flan!

Anita is making flan for Abuelo’s birthday, but when she accidentally breaks Abuelita’s treasured flan serving plate from Cuba, she struggles with what to do. Anita knows it’s right to tell the truth, but what if Abuelita gets upset? Worried that she has already ruined the day, Anita tries to be the best helper. After cooking the flan, they need a serving dish! Anita comes up with a wonderful solution.

Complete with a glossary of Spanish terms and a traditional recipe for flan, Abuelita and I Make Flan is a delicious celebration of food, culture, and family.

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Lots of Grandparents

Sheila M. Kelly

Description

Grandparents come in all sizes and shapes and, contrary to popular belief, in all ages too! Although the elderly grandparent is dealt with, this lovely photographic essay celebrates all of the wonderfully interesting and vibrant and loving grandparents out there relating to their grandkids.

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Masala Chai, Fast and Slow

Rajani LaRocca

Description

Aarav loves his grandfather very much, but they're as different as water and molasses. Where Aarav runs and races, Thatha likes to saunter and stroll. Every day at five o'clock, Thatha makes masala chai for the family, and no matter how much Aarav urges him to hurry, Thatha insists on taking his time. "Masala chai cannot be rushed," says Thatha. "It must be made carefully." One day, when Thatha sprains his ankle and must rest on the couch, Aarav eagerly decides he'd like to make the chai himself--after all, what would make his grandfather feel better than a cup of warm, spiced sweetness? But no matter how hard Aarav tries, his rushing causes him to miss some crucial step. Will Aarav be able to slow down and get the recipe right? With charming illustrations by Neha Rawat that are as enticing as the aroma of spiced tea, author Rajani LaRocca invites readers in for a visit with Aarav and his family--and shares her favorite masala chai recipe at the end.

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Love Makes a Garden Grow

Taeeun Yoo

Description

From the bestselling illustrator of Strictly No Elephants comes a sweetly personal and stunningly illustrated picture book about a young girl who grows closer to her grandfather by tending to the garden with him.

When I am as small
as a sprout,
Grandfather’s garden feels
big.

A young girl observes the bugs and blooms and the rich smell of the soil of her grandfather’s garden. Her grandfather hums as he waters his treasured plants. And when he gives the girl a flower of her own, caring for it teaches her to feel her grandfather’s love.

Even as time passes and her grandfather’s garden grows smaller and the girl grows up, she never forgets what she learned or loses her closeness with her nurturing grandfather.
 

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The Alternatives

Caoilinn Hughes

Description

The Flattery sisters were plunged prematurely into adulthood when their parents died in tragic circumstances. Now in their thirties—all single, all with PhDs—they are each attempting to do meaningful work in a rapidly foundering world. The four lead disparate, distanced lives, from classrooms in Connecticut to ritzy catering gigs in London’s Notting Hill, until one day their oldest sister, a geologist haunted by a terrible awareness of the earth’s future, abruptly vanishes from her work and home. Together for the first time in years, the Flatterys descend on the Irish countryside in search of a sister who doesn’t want to be found. Sheltered in a derelict bungalow, they reach into their common past, confronting both old wounds and a desperately uncertain future. Warm, fiercely witty, and unexpectedly hopeful, The Alternatives is an unforgettable portrait of a family perched on our collective precipice, told by one of Ireland’s most gifted storytellers.

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Plentiful Country

Tyler Anbinder

Description

From the award-winning author of Five Points and City of Dreams, "a superb revisionist history" of the Irish immigrants who arrived in the United States during the Great Potato Famine, using their "riveting and deeply personal stories" in and beyond New York exemplify the astonishing tenacity and improbable triumph of Irish America (Wall Street Journal).



In 1845, a fungus began to destroy Ireland's potato crop, triggering a famine that would kill one million Irish men, women, and children--and drive over one million more to flee for America. Ten years later, the United States had been transformed by this stupendous migration, nowhere more than New York: by 1855, roughly a third of all adults living in Manhattan were immigrants who had escaped the hunger in Ireland. These so-called "Famine Irish" were the forebears of four U.S. presidents (including Joe Biden) yet when they arrived in America they were consigned to the lowest-paying jobs and subjected to discrimination and ridicule by their new countrymen. Even today, the popular perception of these immigrants is one of destitution and despair. But when we let the Famine Irish narrate their own stories, they paint a far different picture.



In this magisterial work of storytelling and scholarship, acclaimed historian Tyler Anbinder presents for the first time the Famine generation's individual and collective tales of struggle, perseverance, and triumph. Drawing on newly available records and a ten-year research initiative, Anbinder reclaims the narratives of the refugees who settled in New York City and helped reshape the entire nation. Plentiful Country is a tour de force--a book that rescues the Famine immigrants from the margins of history and restores them to their rightful place at the center of the American story.

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The Family Tree Irish Genealogy Guide

Claire Santry

Description

Discover your Irish roots! Trace your Irish ancestors from American shores back to the Emerald Isle. This in-depth guide from Irish genealogy expert Claire Santry will take you step-by-step through the exciting--and challenging--journey of discovering your Irish roots. You'll learn how to identify immigrant ancestor, find your family's county and townland of origin, and locate key genealogical resources that will breathe life into your family tree. With historical timelines, sample records, resource lists, and detailed information about where and how to find your ancestors online, this guide has everything you need to uncover your Irish heritage.

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Blood Magick

Nora Roberts

Description

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts comes the final novel in a trilogy about the land we’re drawn to, the family we learn to cherish, and the people we long to love…

Book Three of The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy
Blood Magick


County Mayo is rich in the traditions of Ireland, legends that Branna O’Dwyer fully embraces in her life and in her work as the proprietor of The Dark Witch shop, which carries soaps, lotions, and candles for tourists, made with Branna’s special touch.

Branna’s strength and selflessness hold together a close circle of friends and family—along with their horses and hawks and her beloved hound. But there’s a single missing link in the chain of her life: love…

She had it once—for a moment—with Finbar Burke, but a shared future is forbidden by history and blood. Which is why Fin has spent his life traveling the world to fill the abyss left in him by Branna, focusing on work rather than passion.

Branna and Fin’s relationship offers them both comfort and torment. And though they succumb to the heat between them, there can be no promises for tomorrow. A storm of shadows threatens everything that their circle holds dear. It will be Fin’s power, loyalty, and heart that will make all the difference in an age-old battle between the bonds that hold their friends together and the evil that has haunted their families for centuries.

Don’t miss the other books in the Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy
Dark Witch
Shadow Spell

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Shadow Spell

Nora Roberts

Description

With the legends and lore of Ireland running through his blood, falconer Connor O'Dwyer is proud to call County Mayo home. It's where his sister, Branna, lives and works; where his cousin, Iona, has found true love; and where his childhood friends form a circle that can't be broken. A circle that is about to be stretched out of shape -- by a long-awaited kiss. Meara Quinn is Branna's best friend, a sister in all but blood. Her and Connor's paths cross almost daily, as Connor takes tourists on hawk walks and Meara guides them on horseback across the lush countryside. She has the eyes of a gypsy and the body of a goddess, things Connor has always taken for granted -- until his brush with death propels them into a quick, hot tangle. Plenty of women have found their way to Connor's bed, but none to his heart until now. Frustratingly, Meara is okay with just the heat, afraid to lose herself -- and their friendship -- to something more. But soon, Connor will see the full force and fury of what runs in his blood. And he will need his family and friends around him, when his past rolls in like the fog, threatening an end to all he loves ...

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Dark Witch

Nora Roberts

Description

Three cousins inherit a gift that will transform their lives . . .

Iona Sheehan has just taken the biggest gamble of her life. Leaving her job, her home and her family in Baltimore, she has come to Ireland in search of adventure - and answers.

Iona has always felt a powerful connection to the home of her ancestors. So when her beloved grandmother confesses an extraordinary family secret, she can't resist visiting County Mayo to discover the truth for herself. Arriving at the beautiful and atmospheric Castle Ashford, Iona is excited to meet her cousins, Connor and Branna O'Dwyer, for the first time. And when she lands a job at the local riding school she finds herself drawn against her will to its owner - the hot-tempered but charismatic Boyle McGrath. Perhaps in County Mayo she has found her true home at last.

What Iona doesn't realise is that her cousins have been expecting her for a long time. Connor, Branna and Iona have all inherited a powerful but dangerous gift from an ancestor known as the Dark Witch. And they are about to discover that some old legends can return to haunt the present . . .

The first in a magical new trilogy, Dark Witch is a captivating story of love, family and destiny.

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Heart of the Sea

Nora Roberts

Description

BOOK THREE OF THE GALLAGHERS OF ARDMORE TRILOGY

Walk with #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts in the shadow of an ancient tower and hear a story of dreams fulfilled and wishes come true…


Darcy Gallagher has always believed in the pull of fate, the magic of legend…and the importance of money. She longs to find a rich man who will sweep her away—into a world filled with glamour and adventure, and the exotic life that is her destiny…

A wealthy businessman with Irish blood, Trevor Magee has come to Ardmore to build a theater—and to uncover the secrets hidden in his family’s past. He thought he had given up on love long ago, but Darcy Gallagher tempts him like no woman ever has. She’s gorgeous and intelligent, and she knows what she wants—and he’s more than willing to give it to her. But as their mutual attraction flares into passion, they look into their hearts—and find out what happens when you truly believe.

Don't miss the other books in the Gallaghers of Ardmore trilogy
Jewels of the Sun
Tears of the Moon

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Jewels of the Sun

Nora Roberts

Description

Jude Murray isn't given to dramatic decisions. So she's as surprised as anyone when she quits her job in Chicago and takes refuge in the picturesque village of Ardmore. Surrounded by the beautiful Irish scenery and refreshed by a more relaxed lifestyle, Jude becomes fascinated by the local folklore.

Aidan Gallagher happens to be an expert in Ireland's haunting myths. After years of travelling, he's returned home to devote himself to the family business. But as he shares his country's legends with Jude, Aidan can't help wondering if they could create a passionate history of their own...

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Brooklyn

Colm Toibin

Description

From the award-winning author of The Master, a hauntingly compelling novel—by far Tóibín’s most accessible book—set in Brooklyn and Ireland in the early 1950s about a young woman torn between her family in Ireland and the american who wins her heart.
Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the years following World War Two. Though skilled at bookkeeping, Eilis cannot find a proper job in the miserable Irish economy.

When an Irish priest from Brooklyn visits the household and offers to sponsor Eilis in America—to live and work in a Brooklyn neighborhood "just like Ireland"—she realizes she must go, leaving her fragile mother and sister behind.

Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and studies accounting at Brooklyn College, and, when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, a blond Italian, slowly wins her over with persistent charm. He takes Eilis to Coney Island and Ebbets Field, and home to dinner in the two-room apartment he shares with his brothers and parents. Eilis is in love. But just as she begins to consider what this means, devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her new life.

With the emotional resonance of Alice McDermott’s At Weddings and Wakes, Brooklyn is by far Tóibín’s most inviting, engaging novel. 

 

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The Maiden of Ireland

Susan Wiggs

Description

#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs sweeps readers away to the misty coast of Ireland in an irresistible tale of falling in love with the enemy...

John Wesley Hawkins was condemned to hang, accused of treason and heresy. As he's transported to the scaffold at Tyburn, however, the Lord Protector steps in and offers him the hand of mercy--if Wesley agrees to travel to Ireland on a dangerous mission into the heart of the Irish resistance against English rule. He'll have to seduce the rebels' secrets from a headstrong Irishwoman, but that shouldn't be a problem for a man of Wesley's reputation....

Caitlin MacBride is mistress of the beleaguered Irish castle Clonmuir, and she makes no secret of her loyalty to her countrymen. She's determined to remain strong for her people, but a wish for true love one evening at sunset yields the one thing that may sway her resolve. When Wesley walks out of the mist that fateful night, Caitlin's faith in the magic of Ireland is briefly restored--until she discovers he's one of the treacherous Englishmen she has spent her life fighting against.

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The Somerset Girls

Lori Foster

Description

"Foster convincingly brings her characters to life against the idyllic backdNo one knows you quite like a sister...

Summer in Sunset, Kentucky, means long, hot days--and sometimes surprising new beginnings. Through it all, the ties of sisterhood will be there, guiding Autumn and Ember to the lives, and loves, they need...

When they're running the animal-rescue farm they inherited from their grandparents, Autumn and Ember Somerset are perfectly in sync. At all other times, not so much. Dependable Autumn would rather curl up with a good book than paint the town red with Ember. After the disaster that was Autumn's last relationship, it's pure self-protection. But when her high school crush comes back to town with his adorable young daughter, igniting memories best left forgotten, there's only one person Autumn can turn to...

Beneath Ember's free-spirited facade is a layer of deep hurt. She'll gladly nudge Autumn toward a second chance. But risk her own heart? Not likely. The closer Autumn gets to her own happily-ever-after, the more Ember wonders what she might be missing--and if it isn't her time to be bold, too.

 

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Before We Were Yours

Lisa Wingate

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Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

 

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Pretty Girls

Karin Slaughter

Description

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that's cruelly ripped open when Claire's husband is killed.
 
The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago . . . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.
 
Powerful, poignant, and utterly gripping, packed with indelible characters and unforgettable twists, Pretty Girls is a masterful novel from one of the finest writers working today.

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Sisters

Lisa Wingate

Description

Sea Glass Sisters : A mother-daughter road trip is the last thing Elizabeth Gallagher needs. But with an impending hurricane, they are determined to convince Aunt Sandy to abandon her seaside store and return home. Instead, they discover that sisterhood can change hearts, lives, and futures ... often in unpredictable ways. Tidewater Sisters : Tandi Reese and her sister, Gina, have complicated ties. Faced with legal papers for a fraud she didn't commit, Tandi heads to the North Carolina Tidewater for a reckoning. But to unravel lies from truth, she must first confront strained sibling bonds and uncover a dark family secret. Sandcastle Sister : New York editor Jen Gibbs has not only acquired Evan Hall s blockbuster book deal she s also accepted his engagement proposal. Now she s scared to death. In Jen s family history, marriage represents the death of every dream a woman holds. Will her mother s long-held secret change Jen s belief s about life and love?

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Dear Miss Kopp

Amy Stewart

Description

The U.S. has finally entered World War I. Constance, the oldest of the Kopp sisters, is doing intelligence work on the home front for the Bureau of Investigation while youngest sister and aspiring actress, Fleurette, travels across the country entertaining troops with song and dance. Meanwhile, at an undisclosed location in France, Norma oversees her thwarted pigeon project for the Army Signal Corps. When her roommate, a nurse at the American field hospital, is accused of stealing essential medical supplies, the intrepid Norma is on the case to find the true culprit.

Determined to maintain their sometimes-scratchy family bonds across the miles, the far-flung sisters try to keep each other in their lives. But the world has irrevocably changed--when will the sisters be together again?

Told through letters, Dear Miss Kopp weaves the stories of real-life women a century ago, proving once again that "any novel that features the Kopp sisters is going to be a riotous, unforgettable adventure" (Bustle).

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Anything Is Possible

Elizabeth Strout

Description

Anything Is Possible explores the whole range of human emotion through the intimate dramas of people struggling to understand themselves and others.

Here are two sisters: One trades self-respect for a wealthy husband while the other finds in the pages of a book a kindred spirit who changes her life. The janitor at the local school has his faith tested in an encounter with an isolated man he has come to help; a grown daughter longs for mother love even as she comes to accept her mother’s happiness in a foreign country; and the adult Lucy Barton (the heroine of My Name Is Lucy Barton, the author’s celebrated New York Times bestseller) returns to visit her siblings after seventeen years of absence.

Reverberating with the deep bonds of family, and the hope that comes with reconciliation, Anything Is Possible again underscores Elizabeth Strout’s place as one of America’s most respected and cherished authors.

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Summer with My Sisters

Holly Chamberlin

Description

When Poppy Higgins left Yorktide, Maine, for Boston, she pictured future visits home as brief diversions from her real life in the big city. Fate had different ideas, and at twenty-five, Poppy has been called back to care for her two younger sisters following their father’s death.

Sixteen-year-old Daisy resents Poppy’s long absence and chafes under her sometimes fumbling efforts to be a parent. Violet, now thirteen, is a virtual stranger to her oldest sister. Once a happy, united family, the Higginses seem adrift, and Poppy longs to escape her responsibilities. But when Daisy befriends Evie, an enigmatic newcomer to Yorktide, the young woman will be an unlikely catalyst in the sisters’ journey back to each other. For as Poppy discovers the deep loss in Evie’s life, she awakens to the truth about her own, and about the town, and the people, she’s tried to leave behind.

Filled with the candid warmth of real sisterhood, Summer with My Sisters explores the many forms a family can take, and the unspoken ties that endure, season after season…

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The Sisters of Sea View

Julie Klassen

Description

Some guests have come for a holiday, others for hidden reasons of their own . . .
When their father's death leaves them impoverished, Sarah Summers and her genteel sisters fear they will be forced to sell the house and separate to earn livelihoods as governesses or companions. Determined to stay together, Sarah convinces them to open their seaside home to guests to make ends meet and provide for their ailing mother. Instead of the elderly invalids they expect to receive, however, they find themselves hosting eligible gentlemen. Sarah is soon torn between a growing attraction to a mysterious Scottish widower and duty to her family.

Viola Summers wears a veil to cover her scar. When forced to choose between helping in her family's new guest house and earning money to hire a maid to do her share, she chooses the latter. She reluctantly agrees to read to some of Sidmouth's many invalids, preferring the company of a few elders with failing eyesight to the fashionable guests staying in their home. But when her first client turns out to be a wounded officer in his thirties, Viola soon wishes she had chosen differently. Her new situation exposes her scars--both visible and those hidden deep within--and her cloistered heart will never be the same.

Join the Summers sisters on the Devonshire coast, where they discover the power of friendship, loyalty, love, and new beginnings.

 

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Sisterland

Curtis Sittenfeld

Description

From an early age, Kate and her identical twin sister, Violet, knew that they were unlike everyone else. Kate and Vi were born with peculiar “senses”—innate psychic abilities concerning future events and other people's secrets. Though Vi embraced her visions, Kate did her best to hide them.

Now, years later, their different paths have led them both back to their hometown of St. Louis. Vi has pursued an eccentric career as a psychic medium, while Kate, a devoted wife and mother, has settled down in the suburbs to raise her two young children. But when a minor earthquake hits in the middle of the night, the normal life Kate has always wished for begins to shift. After Vi goes on television to share a premonition that another, more devastating earthquake will soon hit the St. Louis area, Kate is mortified. Equally troubling, however, is her fear that Vi may be right. As the date of the predicted earthquake quickly approaches, Kate is forced to reconcile her fraught relationship with her sister and to face truths about herself she's long tried to deny.

Funny, haunting, and thought-provoking, Sisterland is a beautifully written novel of the obligation we have toward others, and the responsibility we take for ourselves. With her deep empathy, keen wisdom, and unerring talent for finding the extraordinary moments in our everyday lives, Curtis Sittenfeld is one of the most exceptional voices in literary fiction today.

 

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Between Sisters

Kristin Hannah

Description

Meghann Dontess is a woman haunted by heartbreak. Twenty-seven years ago she was forced to make a terrible choice, one that cost her everything, including the love of her sister, Claire. Now, Meghann is a hotshot divorce attorney who doesn't believe in intimacy, until she meets the one man who can change her mind. Claire Cavenaugh has fallen in love for the first time in her life. As her wedding day approaches, she prepares to face her harsh, judgmental older sister.

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Last One Home

Debbie Macomber

Description

Growing up, Cassie Carter and her sisters, Karen and Nichole, were incredibly close--until one fateful event drove them apart. After high school, Cassie ran away from home to marry the wrong man, throwing away a college scholarship and breaking her parents' hearts. To make matters worse, Cassie had always been their father's favorite--a sentiment that weighed heavily on her sisters and made Cassie's actions even harder to bear.

 

Now thirty-one, Cassie is back in Washington, living in Seattle with her daughter and hoping to leave her past behind. After ending a difficult marriage, Cassie is back on her own two feet, the pieces of her life slowly but surely coming together. Despite the strides Cassie's made, she hasn't been able to make peace with her sisters. Karen, the oldest, is a busy wife and mother, balancing her career with raising her two children. And Nichole, the youngest, is a stay-at-home mom whose husband indulges her every whim. Then one day, Cassie receives a letter from Karen, offering what Cassie thinks may be a chance to reconcile. And as Cassie opens herself up to new possibilities--making amends with her sisters, finding love once more--she realizes the power of compassion, and the promise of a fresh start.

A wonderful novel of perseverance and trust, and an exciting journey through life's challenges and joys, Last One Home is Debbie Macomber at the height of her talents.

 

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If You Tell

Gregg Olsen

Description

A shocking and empowering true-crime story of three sisters determined to survive their mother's house of horrors.

After more than a decade, when sisters Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek hear the word mom, it claws like an eagle's talons, triggering memories that have been their secret since childhood. Until now.

For years, behind the closed doors of their farmhouse in Raymond, Washington, their sadistic mother, Shelly, subjected her girls to unimaginable abuse, degradation, torture, and psychic terrors. Through it all, Nikki, Sami, and Tori developed a defiant bond that made them far less vulnerable than Shelly imagined. Even as others were drawn into their mother's dark and perverse web, the sisters found the strength and courage to escape an escalating nightmare that culminated in multiple murders.

Harrowing and heartrending, If You Tell is a survivor's story of absolute evil--and the freedom and justice that Nikki, Sami, and Tori risked their lives to fight for. Sisters forever, victims no more, they found a light in the darkness that made them the resilient women they are today--loving, loved, and moving on.

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The Six

Laura Thompson

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The eldest was a razor-sharp novelist of upper-class manners; the second was loved by John Betjeman; the third was a fascist who married Oswald Mosley; the fourth idolized Hitler and shot herself in the head when Britain declared war on Germany; the fifth was a member of the American Communist Party; the sixth became Duchess of Devonshire.

They were the Mitford sisters: Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah. Born into country-house privilege in the early years of the 20th century, they became prominent as “bright young things” in the high society of interwar London. Then, as the shadows crept over 1930s Europe, the stark—and very public—differences in their outlooks came to symbolize the political polarities of a dangerous decade.

The intertwined stories of their stylish and scandalous lives—recounted in masterly fashion by Laura Thompson—hold up a revelatory mirror to upper-class English life before and after WWII. The Six was previously published as Take Six Girls.

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Sisters First

Jenna Bush Hager

Description

The former first daughters share intimate stories and reflections from the Texas countryside to the storied halls of the White House and beyond.

Born into a political dynasty, Jenna and Barbara Bush grew up in the public eye. As small children, they watched their grandfather become president; just twelve years later they stood by their father's side when he took the same oath. They spent their college years watched over by Secret Service agents and became fodder for the tabloids, with teenage mistakes making national headlines.

But the tabloids didn't tell the whole story. In SISTERS FIRST, Jenna and Barbara take readers on a revealing, thoughtful, and deeply personal tour behind the scenes of their lives, as they share stories about their family, their unexpected adventures, their loves and losses, and the sisterly bond that means everything to them.
 

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Elizabeth & Margaret

Andrew Morton

Description

They were the closest of sisters and the best of friends. But when, in a quixotic twist of fate, their uncle Edward Vlll decided to abdicate the throne, the dynamic between Elizabeth and Margaret was dramatically altered. Forever more Margaret would have to curtsey to the sister she called 'Lillibet.' And bow to her wishes.

Elizabeth would always look upon her younger sister's antics with a kind of stoical amusement, but Margaret's struggle to find a place and position inside the royal system--and her fraught relationship with its expectations--was often a source of tension. Famously, the Queen had to inform Margaret that the Church and government would not countenance her marrying a divorcee, Group Captain Peter Townsend, forcing Margaret to choose between keeping her title and royal allowances or her divorcee lover.

From the idyll of their cloistered early life, through their hidden war-time lives, into the divergent paths they took following their father's death and Elizabeth's ascension to the throne, this book explores their relationship over the years. Andrew Morton's latest biography offers unique insight into these two drastically different sisters--one resigned to duty and responsibility, the other resistant to it--and the lasting impact they have had on the Crown, the royal family, and the ways it adapted to the changing mores of the 20th century.

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Once We Were Sisters

Sheila Kohler

Description

A beautiful and disturbing memoir of a beloved sister who died at the age of thirty-nine in circumstances that strongly suggest murder. . . .  When Sheila Kohler was thirty-seven, she received the heart-stopping news that her sister Maxine, only two years older, was killed when her husband drove them off a deserted road in Johannesburg. Stunned by the news, she immediately flew back to the country where she was born, determined to find answers and forced to reckon with his history of violence and the lingering effects of their most unusual childhood one marked by death and the misguided love of their mother.
In her signature spare and incisive prose, Sheila Kohler recounts the lives she and her sister led. Flashing back to their storybook childhood at the family estate, Crossways, Kohler tells of the death of her father when she and Maxine were girls, which led to the family abandoning their house and the girls being raised by their mother, at turns distant and suffocating. We follow them to the cloistered Anglican boarding school where they first learn of separation and later their studies in Rome and Paris where they plan grand lives for themselves lives that are interrupted when both marry young and discover they have made poor choices. Kohler evokes the bond between sisters and shows how that bond changes but never breaks, even after death."

 

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The Sisters of Auschwitz

Roxane van Iperen

Description

The unforgettable story of two unsung heroes of World War II: sisters Janny and Lien Brilleslijper who joined the Dutch Resistance, helped save dozen of lives, were captured by the Nazis, and ultimately survived the Holocaust.

Eight months after Germany's invasion of Poland, the Nazis roll into The Netherlands, expanding their reign of brutality to the Dutch. But by the Winter of 1943, resistance is growing. Among those fighting their brutal Nazi occupiers are two Jewish sisters, Janny and Lien Brilleslijper from Amsterdam. Risking arrest and death, the sisters help save others, sheltering them in a clandestine safehouse in the woods, they called "The High Nest."

This secret refuge would become one of the most important Jewish safehouses in the country, serving as a hiding place and underground center for resistance partisans as well as artists condemned by Hitler. From The High Nest, an underground web of artists arises, giving hope and light to those living in terror in Holland as they begin to restore the dazzling pre-war life of Amsterdam and The Hague.

When the house and its occupants are eventually betrayed, the most terrifying time of the sisters' lives begins. As Allied troops close in, the Brilleslijper family are rushed onto the last train to Auschwitz, along with Anne Frank and her family. The journey will bring Janny and Lien close to Anne and her older sister Margot. The days ahead will test the sisters beyond human imagination as they are stripped of everything but their courage, their resilience, and their love for each other.

Based on meticulous research and unprecedented access to the Brilleslijpers' personal archives of memoirs and photos, Sisters of Auschwitz is a long-overdue homage to two young women's heroism and moral bravery--and a reminder of the power each of us has to change the world.

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Resilience

Jessie Close

Description

At a young age, Jessie Close struggled with symptoms that would transform into severe bipolar disorder in her early twenties, but she was not properly diagnosed until the age of fifty. Jessie and her three siblings, including actress Glenn Close, spent many years in the Moral Re-Armament cult. Jessie passed her childhood in New York, Switzerland, Connecticut, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), and finally Los Angeles, where her life quickly became unmanageable. She was just fifteen years old.

Jessie's emerging mental illness led her into a life of addictions, five failed marriages, and to the brink of suicide. She fought to raise her children despite her ever worsening mental conditions and under the strain of damaged romantic relationships. Her sister Glenn and certain members of their family tried to be supportive throughout the ups and downs, and Glenn's vignettes in RESILIENCE provide an alternate perspective on Jessie's life as it began to spiral out of control. Jessie was devastated to discover that mental illness was passed on to her son Calen, but getting him help at long last helped Jessie to heal as well. Eleven years later, Jessie is a productive member of society and a supportive daughter, mother, sister, and grandmother.

In RESILIENCE, Jessie dives into the dark and dangerous shadows of mental illness without shying away from its horror and turmoil. With New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Pete Earley, she tells of finally discovering the treatment she needs and, with the encouragement of her sister and others, the emotional fortitude to bring herself back from the edge.

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Catch the Sparrow

Rachel Rear

Description

The gripping story of a young woman's murder, unsolved for over two decades, brilliantly investigated and reconstructed by her stepsister.

Growing up, Rachel Rear knew the story of Stephanie Kupchynsky's disappearance. The beautiful violinist and teacher had fled an abusive relationship on Martha's Vineyard and made a new start for herself near Rochester, NY. She was at the height of her life-in a relationship with a man she hoped to marry and close to her students and her family. And then, one morning, she was gone.

Around Rochester-a region which has spawned such serial killers as Arthur Shawcross and the “Double Initial” killer-Stephanie's disappearance was just a familiar sort of news item. But Rachel had more reason than most to be haunted by this particular story of a missing woman: Rachel's mother had married Stephanie's father after the crime, and Rachel grew up in the shadow of her stepsister's legacy.

In Catch the Sparrow, Rachel Rear writes a compulsively readable and unerringly poignant reconstruction of the case's dark and serpentine path across more than two decades. Obsessively cataloging the crime and its costs, drawing intimately closer to the details than any journalist could, she reveals how a dysfunctional justice system laid the groundwork for Stephanie's murder and stymied the investigation for more than twenty years, and what those hard years meant for the lives of Stephanie's family and loved ones. Startling, unputdownable, and deeply moving, Catch the Sparrow is a retelling of a crime like no other.

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