Search:

The apothecary's garden : a novel / by Lynes, Jeanette,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Belleville 1860: Lavender Fitch is a twenty-eight-year-old spinster, whose station in life is greatly diminished after the death of her father, the local apothecary. Her only inheritance is the family house along with its extensive gardens. To make ends meet, Lavender resorts to selling flowers at the local market. Then, one day, a glamorous couple step off the train at the railway station. The lady is famed Spirit Medium, Allegra Trout, who has arrived for a public show of her mediumship. With her striking beauty and otherworldly charms, Allegra casts a spell over Belleville from the moment she arrives. Her handsome but disfigured assistant, Robert, singles out Lavender as he makes his way through the crowded train station and buys her entire cart of flowers. The arrival of the legendary Medium is well-timed. Lavender has been searching for a secret cache of money and requires Allegra's help to contact her dead mother for clues to its hidden location. As the Trouts remain in town, preparing an encore presentation of their Mystical Extravaganza, Robert and Lavender begin to grow closer. As the town's anticipation for Allegra's final show begins to mount, so do Lavender's questions. Will the spirits make contact, or is Allegra a fraud? Is Robert really Allegra's brother, or is something else going on? Will Robert and Lavender's relationship continue to blossom or collapse under the weight of deception? Will Lavender find the money left by her mother or be forced from her home and beloved garden? The Apothecary's Garden is an enchanting and spirited story about the language of flowers and supernatural power of love."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Family secrets; Man-woman relationships; Women mediums;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
unAPI

The paper birds : a novel / by Lynes, Jeanette,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Set in the sweltering summer of 1943 in Toronto, The Paper Birds, is a novel about Gemma Sullivan, who works in a top-secret government codebreaking unit in Mimico, Ontario, during World War II. Gemma is an orphan, who was raised by her elderly aunt Wren after the death of her parents. Her aunt harbors of a deep love of crosswords and Tarot cards and an equally passionate hatred for war since the death of her own fiancée in WWI. While they are barely making ends meet, the last thing Wren would want for her niece is a job that involves anything to do with the war. It's a good thing then that Gemma's new job is top secret. Gemma is hired to work at The Cottage, where she and her female colleagues labour under a lifelong oath of secrecy, breaking codes and administering top secret information during the war. On the shores of Lake Ontario, close to Gemma's workplace, there is also a POW camp where Gemma encounters a prisoner named Tobias. She talks to Tobias through the fence even though she's at risk of losing her job, or worse, if she's caught fraternizing with the enemy. After several weeks of risky conversations, Tobias disappears from the camp. As Gemma is pulled deeper into her cryptology work, she becomes an integral part of the codebreakers' circle. While she loves her work, Gem didn't anticipate the tremendous psychological strain it would take. The job threatens to drive a wedge between Gem and her beloved aunt, as she struggles with the burden of secrecy. When Gemma unexpectedly runs into Tobias outside of the prison, Gemma's world is turned upside down and they are both forced to confront the secrets they've been keeping from each other. The Paper Birds is a love story that reveals the struggles and sacrifices of every day working women during the war and highlights the previously unknown codebreaking work undertaken by women in Canada during WWII."--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Cryptographers; Cryptography; Interpersonal relations; Man-woman relationships; Secrecy; World War, 1939-1945; Young women;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
unAPI