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Marilla of Green Gables : a novel / by McCoy, Sarah,1980-author.; prequel to:Montgomery, L. M.(Lucy Maud),1874-1942.Anne of Green Gables.;
"A bold, heartfelt tale of life at Green Gables ... before Anne. Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down, leaving her to bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew and father, Hugh. In Avonlea, life holds few options for farm girls. Marilla's one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth "Izzy" Johnson, her mother's sister, who fled Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catharines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy is a talented seamstress, which has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world. Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables. With her friend Rachel, she joins the local Ladies Aid Society in helping an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia -- a home for abandoned children that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness -- but Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. Instead she is caught up in the dangerous work of politics and abolition -- jeopardizing all she cherishes. Now Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables."--Jacket flap.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Farm life;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Ghost towns of Ontario's cottage country / by Hind, Andrew,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."Explore the remnants of vanished villages across Ontario's cottage country. Crumbling foundations lost in the forest, weathered buildings leaning wearily with age, cracked tombstones jutting from the ground--all serve as haunting reminders of once thriving villages that have since been abandoned. Each of these locales has a distinct story to tell, stories that until now were confined to fading memories and grainy photographs. From the northern shores of Georgian Bay to the eastern reaches of the Kawarthas, Ontario's cottage country is littered with vanished villages, including settlement-era farm communities, railway whistlestops, and logging hamlets. Within these pages, readers will venture into Ontario's past to learn how these communities lived and died and to meet the people who invested their hopes and dreams in them. Dozens of photographs, many historical and never before published, bring these ghost towns back to life. Join Andrew Hind in exploring over a dozen villages across the districts of Parry Sound and Nipissing,Muskoka, and the Haliburton Highlands."--
Subjects: Guidebooks.; Ghost towns; Ghost towns;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Black Loch / by May, Peter,1951-author.;
When the lifeless body of eighteen-year-old TV personality Caitlin is found abandoned on a remote beach at the head of An Loch Dubh, the Black Loch on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, questions of murder and secrecy shroud the tight-knit community. A swimmer and canoeist, it is inconceivable that she could have drowned. Fin Macleod left the island ten years earlier to escape its memories. When he learns that his married son Fionnlagh had been having a clandestine affair with the dead girl and is suspected of her murder, he and Marsaili return to try and clear his name. But nothing is as it seems, and the truth of the murder lies in a past that Fin would rather forget, and a tragedy at the cages of a salmon farm on East Loch Roag, where the tense climax of the story finds its resolution. The Black Loch takes us on a journey through family ties, hidden relationships and unforgiving landscapes, where suspense, violent revenge and revelation converge in the shadow of the Black Loch.
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Novels.; Macleod, Fin (Fictitious character); Adultery; Fathers and sons; Islands; Murder; Secrecy;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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This Bright Dust [electronic resource] : by Berkhout, Nina.aut; cloudLibrary;
From the author of Harper’s Bazaar Hottest Breakout Novel comes a multi-layered, emotionally resonant story. In 1939, as the Great Depression winds down and war in Europe looms, the small Prairie community of Grayley is all but abandoned. Abel Dodds paces his family’s plot, searching for gold his late father buried in an undisclosed location. When his neighbour Jake Wishart drops by to tell Abel he’s leaving town and to ask if Abel can keep an eye on his sister, Una, and her son and grandfather, Abel reluctantly agrees. Abel and the Wisharts prepare for the growing season — their last chance to make a living on their debt-burdened farms. When they hear the news of a visit from the king and queen to rally troops, tensions rise. With little food on their tables and a land turned to dust, the unfailingly optimistic Una is convinced that the royal tour will change their lives for the better. But Abel wants a reckoning. In this lyrical novel, Nina Berkhout artfully brings into focus a story of hope and disillusionment, of disaster and the cultivation of joy, of the relationship between people and the land they inhabit.General adult.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary;
© 2024., Goose Lane Editions,
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Open, Heaven [electronic resource] : by Hewitt, Seán.aut; CloudLibrary;
Named a Most Anticipated Release of 2025 by Vulture, Literary Hub, the BBC and RTÉ A stunning debut novel from the acclaimed young Irish poet Seán Hewitt, reminiscent of Garth Greenwell and Douglas Stuart in the intensity of its evocation of sexual awakening. Set in a remote village in the North of England, Open, Heaven unfolds over the course of one year in which two sixteen year old boys meet and transform each other’s lives. James—a sheltered, shy sixteen-year-old—is alone in his newly discovered sexuality, full of an unruly desire but entirely inexperienced. As he is beginning to understand himself and his longings, he also realizes how his feelings threaten to separate him from his family and the rural community in which he has grown up. He dreams of another life, fantasizing about what lies beyond the village’s leaf-ribboned boundaries, beyond his reach: autonomy, tenderness, sex. Then, in the autumn of 2002, he meets Luke, a slightly older boy, handsome, unkempt, who comes with a reputation for danger. Abandoned by his parents—his father imprisoned, and his mother having moved to France for another man—Luke has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle at their farm just outside the village. James is immediately drawn to him, "like the pull a fire makes on the air, dragging things into it and blazing them into its hot, white centre," drawn to this boy who is beautiful and impulsive, charismatic and troubled. Underneath Luke’s bravado is a deep wound—a longing for the love of his father and for the stability of family life. Open, Heaven is a novel about desire, yearning, and the terror of first love. With the striking economy and lyricism that animate his work as a poet, Hewitt has written a mesmerizing hymn to boyhood, sensuality, and love in all its forms. A truly exceptional debut.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary; Coming of Age; Gay;
© 2025., Knopf Canada,
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The Bittlemores : a novel / by Arden, Jann,author.;
On mean Harp Bittlemore's blighted farm, hidden away in the Backhills, nothing has gone right for a very long time. Crops don't grow, the pigs and chickens stay skinny and the three aged dairy cows, Berle, Crilla and Dally, are so desperate they are plotting an escape. The one thing holding them back is the thought of abandoning young Willa, the single bright point in their life since her older sister, Margaret, ran away. But Willa Bittlemore, just turning 14, is planning her own rebellion. Something doesn't add up in the story she's been told about her missing sister, and she's beginning to question if her horrible parents are even her parents at all. Just as things are really coming to a head, a bright young police officer starts investigating a cold case involving a baby stolen from a little rural hospital 28 years earlier, and Willa and the cows find out exactly how far the Bittlemores will go to protect a festering secret. Written with Jann's trademark outrageous humour and full of her down-to-earth wisdom, The Bittlemores is a rural fairytale, a coming-of-age story and a prairie mystery all-in-one, saturated with her observations of the world she grew up in and her deep connection to the animals we exploit. This marvel of a first novel digs into how people come to be so cruel, but it also glories in the miracle of human kindness.
Subjects: Bildungsromans.; Magic realist fiction.; Novels.; Country life; Cows; Farms; Human-animal relationships; Secrecy; Teenage girls;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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The summer we started over : a novel / by Thayer, Nancy,1943-author.;
"Two sisters reconnect and pursue their dreams on the beautiful island of Nantucket, overcoming life's challenges and finding new love, in this heartwarming and hopeful novel by New York Times bestselling author Nancy Thayer. Eddie Grant is happy with her life and her work as a personal assistant to Dinah Lavender, one of the most famous and renowned romance authors in the business. But being a spectator to notoriety and glamour isn't as fulfilling as she once thought. Thankfully, Eddie has the perfect excuse for a vacation: Her hardworking younger sister, Barrett, is opening her gift shop on Memorial Day weekend, and could use all the help she can get. But going home to the beautiful island of Nantucket means facing the family's difficult past. Shortly after the death of Eddie and Barrett's brother, their mother left them and their father made the spontaneous decision to buy a small farm. Eddie stayed there for only a year before her family's grief threatened to consume her as well, and had been living in Manhattan ever since. Now that she is back, Eddie must face all she left behind: her father's increased eccentricities, which has led to a house bursting at the seams with books; her sister's resentment over Eddie's escape; and a past love connection, one that is still undeniable and complicated, all these years later. But the Grant sisters are nothing if not resilient and capable, opening a used bookstore in their father's abandoned barn to manage his hoarding, and navigating the discovery of a long-buried family secret that will change all of them forever. In The Summer We Started Over, beloved storyteller Nancy Thayer transports readers with a moving story about family, courage, and the resiliency of young women"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Family secrets; Sisters; Young women;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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The Fact Checker [electronic resource] : by Kelley, Austin.aut; CloudLibrary;
Mirthful, laugh-out-loud funny, and surprisingly philosophical, The Fact Checker is a brilliant debut novel featuring a missing woman who might be perfectly fine, and a single-minded investigator yearning for meaning, morality, and accuracy in an increasingly post-truth world. It’s just a puff piece about a farmer’s market, I said to myself. It’s not going to kill anyone. It started out like any other morning for the Fact Checker. The piece, “Mandeville/Green,” didn’t raise any red flags. There were more pressing stories that week—it being 2004 New York City and all. “Mandeville/Green” was a light, breezy look at a local farm called New Egypt, whose Ramapo tomatoes were quickly becoming the summer’s hottest produce. At first glance, the story seemed straightforward, but one line made the Fact Checker pause: a stray quote from a New Egypt volunteer named Sylvia making a cryptic reference to “nefarious business” at the farmer’s market. “People sell everything here,” she’s alleged to have said. “It ain’t all green.” When Sylvia abruptly disappears the morning after an unexpectedly long night with the Fact Checker, he becomes obsessed with finding her. Did Sylvia discover something unsavory about New Egypt or its messianic owner? Is it possible she had some reason to fear for her safety? Or was it simply something the Fact Checker said? Striking the perfect balance of humor, wonder, sadness, and poignancy, Austin Kelley’s debut novel takes readers on a quixotic quest from one hidden corner of New York City to another—from an underground supper club in the Financial District to an abandoned-boat-turned-anarchist-community-space on the Gowanus Canal. As the story develops, the Fact Checker begins to question his perception of what’s real and what’s not. Facts can be deceiving, after all, and if you aren’t careful, you might miss the truth right in front of your eyes.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Literary; Humorous;
© 2025., Grove Atlantic,
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The tea girl of Hummingbird Lane : a novel / by See, Lisa,author.;
"A thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been adopted by an American couple. Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate--the first automobile any of them have seen--and a stranger arrives. In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city. After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley's happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family's destiny for generations. A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Adopted children; Akha (Southeast Asian people); Chinese-American teenagers; Group identity; Identity (Psychology); Mothers and daughters;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 3
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The tea girl of Hummingbird Lane [sound recording] / by See, Lisa,author.; Miles, Ruthie Ann,narrator.; Glenn, Kimiko,1989-narrator.; Simon & Schuster Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by Ruthie Ann Miles and Kimiko Glenn."A thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been adopted by an American couple. Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate--the first automobile any of them have seen--and a stranger arrives. In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city. After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley's happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family's destiny for generations. A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters"--
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Adopted children; Akha (Southeast Asian people); Chinese-American teenagers; Group identity; Identity (Psychology); Mothers and daughters;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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