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Delphi : a novel / by Pollard, Clare,author.;
"Covid-19 has arrived in London, and the entire world quickly succumbs to the surreal, chaotic mundanity of screens, isolation, and the disasters small and large that have plagued recent history. As our unnamed narrator--a classics academic immersed in her studies of ancient prophecies--navigates the tightening grip of lockdown, a marriage in crisis, and a ten-year-old son who seems increasingly unreachable, she becomes obsessed with predicting the future. Shifting her focus from chiromancy (prophecy by palm reading) to zoomancy (prophecy by animal behavior) to oenomancy (prophecy by wine), she fails to notice the future creeping into the heart of her very own home, and when she finally does, the threat has already breached the gates"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-; Prophecies (Occultism); Women prophets;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Ten birds that changed the world / by Moss, Stephen,1960-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."For the whole of human history, we have shared our world with birds. We have hunted and domesticated them for food, fuel and feathers; placed them at the heart of our rituals, religions, myths and legends; poisoned, persecuted and often demonized them; and celebrated them in our music, art and poetry. Even today, despite a growing disconnect between humanity and the rest of nature, birds continue to play an integral role in our lives. Ten Birds that Changed the World tells the story of this long and intricate relationship, spanning the whole of human history, and featuring birds from all seven of the world's continents. It does so through those species whose lives, and their interactions with us, have - in one way or another - changed the course of human history. From when Noah sent out the Raven from the Ark, birds have been central to our superstitions, mythology and folklore. Once humans switched from hunter-gathering to settled societies they began to domesticate wild birds: first the Rock Dove - now the domestic or feral Pigeon - used to communicate over long distances; and then the Wild Turkey and other species for food - later, they became the centerpiece of the annual family festivals of Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Dodo of the Indian Ocean is the icon of extinction, while Darwin's Finches changed the way we look at life on our planet, and the droppings of the Guanay Cormorant provided vast amounts of phosphates, kickstarting a global agricultural revolution. In North America, the Snowy Egret almost disappeared when its plumes were used for fashion; this led to the modern bird protection and conservation movement. The Bald Eagle is the proud symbol of the USA, but eagles have a checkered history, especially in Roman and Nazi propaganda. In China, Mao's 'Great Leap Forward' turned out to be the exact opposite. His call to kill millions of Tree Sparrows meant the insects they ate destroyed the grain harvest - leading to a famine in which thirty million people died. Finally, the Emperor Penguin of Antarctica stands as a potent symbol of how humanity's future is now in the balance, as it heads towards becoming the first global casualty of the Climate Emergency. It is an urgent sign, warning us about our own survival on the planet? Ten Birds that Changed the World is a 'big picture' view of global human history, seen through a unique and original viewpoint: our relationship with birds, as crucial to our lives today as is has ever been"--
Subjects: Birds; Human-animal relationships;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Somerset girls / by Foster, Lori,1958-author.;
No 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.
Subjects: Romance fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Sisters; Family-owned business enterprises; Animal rescue; Man-woman relationships;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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When the cranes fly south : a novel / by Ridzén, Lisa,author.; Menzies, Alice,translator.;
"Bo is running out of time. Yet time is one of the few things he's got left. These days, his quiet existence is broken up only by daily visits from his home care team. Fortunately, he still has his beloved elkhound Sixten to keep him company ... though now his son, with whom Bo has had a rocky relationship, insists upon taking the dog away, claiming that Bo has grown too old to properly care for him. The threat of losing Sixten stirs up a whirlwind of emotion, leading Bo to take stock of his life, his relationships, and the imperfect way he's expressed his love over the years"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Fathers and sons; Old age; Dogs; Human-animal relationships;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Cat fight : a novel / by Conway, Kit,author.;
"Big Little Lies meets Tiger King in this fun and propulsive debut novel about three suburban women who, over the course of one summer, each use the growing hysteria around a big cat sighting to achieve their own agendas - some more sinister than others. Former zoologist Coralie King now reigns over a different sort of animal kingdom as Queen Bee of Sevenoaks, a wealthy suburb of London. When her husband Adam spots a panther on the hood of his car at one of her exclusive dinner parties, Coralie is quick to reassure her guests that they're in no real danger. She sees the sighting as the perfect opportunity to revive her career and promote her own ecological endeavors. New neighbor Emma Brooks doesn't believe for a second that there's a big cat in their midst but is all too willing to use the concern as a distraction from her home remodel application that's been facing scrutiny. Meanwhile, former punk musician Twig Dorsett doesn't know what to believe. She never thought she'd return to Sevenoaks and be living in her childhood home, but after her daughter became sick, she and her wife traded their Bohemian life in Bali for the security of London suburbia. As the summer heats up, the frenzy around the big cat sighting reaches a fever pitch when gnawed bones, pawprints, and scratches are discovered. But is the real predator a big cat on the prowl or is the true threat more of the domestic variety? Filled with gasp-worthy twists and turns, Cat Fight is a wickedly entertaining novel of suspense that examines the lengths to which some women will go when they feel caged"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Domestic fiction.; Novels.; Families; Neighborhoods; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Mr. Texas / by Wright, Lawrence,1947-author.;
"Sonny Lamb is an affable, if floundering, rancher with the unfortunate habit of becoming a punchline in his Texas hometown. Most recently, he bought his own bull at auction, saving it from being sold to a slaughterhouse. But when a fire breaks out at a neighbor's farm, Sonny makes headlines in another way: Not waiting for help, he bolts to the farm and heroically saves the family's daughter and her horse, riding the animal out of their burning barn. Within days of the event, he attracts the notice of a mysterious man named L.D. who arrives at his door and asks if he'd like to run as a Republican for his district's representative seat. Though Sonny has zero experience and doesn't consider himself political in the least, he decides to throw his hat in the ring ... and he wins. As Sonny navigates life in politics, from running a campaign to negotiating in the capitol, he must learn the ropes, weighing his own ethics and environmental concerns against the pressures of veteran politicians, savvy lobbyists, and his own party. In tracing Sonnys attempt to balance his marriage and morality with an increasingly volatile professional life, Lawrence Wright has crafted a hilarious, immensely clever rollercoaster ride about one man's pursuit of goodness in the Lonestar State"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Political fiction.; Novels.; Politicians; Ranchers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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An elegant woman : a novel / by McPhee, Martha,author.;
"For fans of Mary Beth Keane and Jennifer Egan, this powerful, moving multigenerational saga from National Book Award finalist Martha McPhee--ten years in the making--explores one family's story against the sweep of 20th century American history. Drawn from the author's own family history, An Elegant Woman is a story of discovery and reinvention, following four generations of women in one American family. As Isadora, a novelist, and two of her sisters sift through the artifacts of their forebears' lives, trying to decide what to salvage and what to toss, the narrative shifts to a winter day in 1910 at a train station in Ohio. Two girls wait in the winter cold with their mother--the mercurial Glenna Stewart--to depart for a new life in the West. As Glenna campaigns in Montana for women's suffrage and teaches in one-room schoolhouses, Tommy takes care of her little sister, Katherine: trapping animals, begging, keeping house, cooking, while Katherine goes to school. When Katherine graduates, Tommy makes a decision that will change the course of both of their lives. A profound meditation on memory, history, and legacy, An Elegant Woman follows one woman over the course of the 20th century, taking the reader from a drought-stricken farm in Montana to a yellow Victorian in Maine; from the halls of a psychiatric hospital in London to a wedding gown fitting at Bergdorf Goodman; from a house in small town Ohio to a family reunion at a sweltering New Jersey pig roast. Framed by Isadora's efforts to retell her grandmother's journey--and understand her own--the novel is an evocative exploration of the stories we tell ourselves, and what we leave out."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Historical fiction.; Social problem fiction.; Families; Sisters; Mothers and daughters; Women;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The last chance matinee / by Stewart, Mariah,author.;
"From New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart comes the first novel in her all-new series, The Hudson Sisters, following a trio of reluctant sisters as they set out to fulfill their father's dying wish. In the process, they find not only themselves, but the father they only thought they knew. When celebrated and respected agent Fritz Hudson passes away, he leaves a trail of Hollywood glory in his wake--and two separate families who never knew the other existed. Allie and Des Hudson are products of Fritz's first marriage to Honora, a beautiful but troubled starlet whose life ended in a tragic overdose. Meanwhile, Fritz was falling in love on the Delaware Bay with New Age hippie Susa Pratt--they had a daughter together, Cara, and while Fritz loved Susa with everything he had, he never quite managed to tell her or Cara about his West Coast family. Now Fritz is gone, and the three sisters are brought together under strange circumstances: there's a large inheritance to be had that could save Allie from her ever-deepening debt following a disastrous divorce, allow Des to open a rescue shelter for abused and wounded animals, and give Cara a fresh start after her husband left her for her best friend--but only if the sisters upend their lives and work together to restore an old, decrepit theater that was Fritz's obsession growing up in his small hometown in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. Guided by Fritz's closest friend and longtime attorney, Pete Wheeler, the sisters come together--whether they like it or not--to turn their father's dream into a reality, and might just come away with far more than they bargained for"--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Self-realization in women; Female friendship; Sisters; Motion picture theaters;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Darling beasts : a novel / by Gable, Michelle,author.;
Gabby, Talia, and Ozzie Gunn, heirs to a media empire, are in trouble. After several bad investments and one major scandal, their father is now trying to restore their family's good name with a senatorial run. Even worse? He's demanding they move to California to join the campaign or risk being cut off. It's easy to say you don't care about money when you have enough, but with mounting debts, unconventional hobbies, and in the case of Gabby, Portum Bestiae Syndrome--a very expensive condition in which strange symptoms arise and then an exotic animal appears--the siblings don't have much of a choice. In California, they'll just have to keep their distance and survive until it's all over. But almost immediately, the Gunns find themselves right in the thick of things, dodging headlines and the creatures that seem to pop up in the most inconvenient places. Not only that--the change in scenery even has them bonding, on hot-air balloon rides and sunny beaches. But when a family secret rears its head, reopening old wounds, this new existence is thrown into chaos, and the stage is set for a long-overdue reckoning.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Magic realist fiction.; Novels.; Families; Family secrets; Interpersonal relations; Secrecy; Siblings;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Gone but still here : a novel / by Dance, Jennifer,1949-author.;
"Mary explores long-buried memories of her interracial love story as her short-term memories fade. Struggling to cope with Alzheimer's disease, Mary moves into her daughter's home, along with her cat. Mary's daughter is full of good intentions but soon finds herself caught between her cognitively impaired mother and her belligerent teenage son. Sage, the family's golden retriever, offers them all comfort and unconditional love, but she has her own problems now having to deal with the cat. As dementia progresses, Mary's recent memories vanish, replaced with those from her past, especially of her young husband who died forty years earlier. Wanting to keep Keith's memory alive for her children, Mary attempts to write her memoir. Spanning Trinidad, England, and Canada, her tangled tales reveal the trauma of an interracial love story set in an era of intolerance and hatred, and of a love that refuses to die. But with her reading, writing and comprehension skills slipping away, it's a race against time."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Alzheimer's disease; Dogs; Families; Human-animal relationships; Husbands; Interracial marriage; Widows;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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