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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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Finding Larkspur : a return to village life / by Needles, Dan,author.;
"Bestselling chronicler of village life Dan Needles (author of the Wingfield Farm stage plays) leads an insightful and laugh-out-loud tour through the quirks and customs of today's Canadian small town. Modern literature has not been kind to village life. For almost two centuries, small towns have been portrayed as backward, insular places needing to be escaped. But anthropologists tell us that the human species has spent more than 100,000 years living in villages of 100 to 150 people. This is where the oldest part of our brain, the limbic system, grew and adapted to become a very sophisticated instrument for reading other people's emotions and figuring out how we might cooperate to find food, shelter and protection. By comparison, the frontal cortex, which helps us do our taxes, drive a car and download cat videos, is a very recent aftermarket addition, like a sunroof. And it is the village where almost half the world's population still chooses to live. Finding Larkspur takes a walk through the Canadian village of the twenty-first century, observing customs and traditions that endure despite the best efforts of Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. The author looks at the buildings and organizations left over from the old rural community, why they were built in the first place and how they have adapted to the modern day. The post office, the general store, the church, the school and the service club all remain standing, but they operate quite differently than they did for our ancestors. Drawing from his experience working in rural communities across Canada and in other countries, Needles reveals how a national conversation may be driven by urban voices but the national character is often very much a product of its small towns and back roads."-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Sociology, Rural; Villages; Villages;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Bees : an identification and native plant forage guide / by Holm, Heather,1972-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.This well-illustrated guide captures the beauty, diversity, and engaging world of bees and the native plants that support them. Superbly designed and organized, this is an indispensable source of information with extensive profiles for twenty-seven bee genera, plus twelve mini profiles for uncommon genera, and approximately one hundred native trees, shrubs, and perennials for the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Northeast regions. With over 1500 stunning photographs, detailed descriptions, and accessible science, environmental educator and research assistant Heather Holm brings to light captivating information about bees' life cycles, habitats, diet, foraging behaviors, crops pollinated, nesting lifestyles, seasonality, and preferred native forage plants. Bees are a singularly fascinating group of insects and this book makes it possible to observe, attract, and support them in their natural setting or in one's own garden. Not only does this guide assist the reader with bee identification in the field or by photo, it also notes microscopic features for the advanced user. The factors impacting bee populations, and the management of farms and public and residential landscapes for bees are also covered. Included in the bee forage (plant) chapters are plant profiles with range maps, habitat information, floral features and attractants, common bees attracted to the particular plant, and details about the ecological connections between the native plant and other flower-visiting insects. Noted also are birds dependent upon the product of the pollinated flowers (fruits and seeds). This is an excellent reference for amateur and professional naturalists, educators, gardeners, farmers, students, nature photographers, insect enthusiasts, biologists, and anyone interested in learning more about the diversity and biology of bees and their connection to native plants and the natural world.
Subjects: Bees; Forage plants;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Vegetable gardening : the complete guide to growing more than 40 popular vegetables in any space / by Klein, Carol,1945-author.; Gilsenan, Fiona,editor.; Klein, Carol,1945-Grow your own vegetables.;
Subjects: Vegetable gardening.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The unmaking of June Farrow : a novel / by Young, Adrienne,1985-author.;
"In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm--and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow's disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors. It's been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren't there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere-the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own. After her grandmother's death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother's decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she's been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love."--
Subjects: Magic realist fiction.; Novels.; Blessing and cursing; Family secrets;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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The spoon stealer / by Crewe, Lesley,1955-author.;
"Born into a basket of clean sheets -- ruining a perfectly good load of laundry -- Emmeline never quite fit in on her family's rural Nova Scotian farm. After suffering multiple losses in the First World War, her family became so heavy with grief, toxicity, and mental illness that Emmeline felt their weight smothering her. And so, she fled across the Atlantic and built her life in England. Now she is retired and living in a small coastal town with her best friend, Vera, an excellent conversationalist. Vera is also a small white dog, and so Emmeline is making an effort to talk to more humans. When she joins a memoir-writing course at the library, her classmates don't know what to make of her. Funny, loud, and with a riveting memoir, she charms the lot. As her past unfolds for her audience, friendships form, a bonus in a rather lonely life. She even shares with them her third-biggest secret: she has liberated hundreds of spoons over her lifetime -- from the local library, Cary Grant, Winston Churchill. She is a compulsive spoon stealer. When Emmeline unexpectedly inherits the farm she grew up on, she knows she needs to leave, to see what remains of her family one last time. She arrives like a tornado in their lives, an off-kilter Mary Poppins bossing everyone around and getting quite a lot wrong. But with her generosity and hard-earned wisdom, she gets an awful lot right, too. A pinball ricocheting between people, offending and inspiring in equal measure, Emmeline, in her final years, believes that a spoonful -- perhaps several spoonfuls -- of kindness can set to rights the family so broken by loss and secrecy. The Spoon Stealer is a classic Crewe book: full of humour, family secrets, women's friendship, lovable animals, and immense heart."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Families; Family secrets; Homecoming; Human-animal relationships; Inheritance and succession;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Leaving Wisdom / by Butala, Sharon,1940-author.;
"Leaving Wisdom begins with the wrong kind of bang when retiring social worker Judith falls on the way to her retirement party. Her ears still ringing and her strength compromised by a shaky recovery, Judith moves back to the town of Wisdom, Saskatchewan, near the farm where she grew up. There she confronts many unanswered questions: Why was her father, a World War Two veteran, so troubled? What are her brother and sister hiding from her? And more immediately, is a serious crime unfolding in the house next door? Small town bigotry and shady goings-on make Judith's search for answers even more bewildering. As she attempts to untangle the mysteries that ensare her at every turn, more complicated and wider ranging questions arise as she uncovers the truth about her damaged father. This thought-provoking and very readable tale depicts the suffering that comes from family secrets, and one woman's late-life awakening to the complex shadows cast by World War Two and the Holocaust."--Back cover.
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Families; Family secrets; Homecoming; Mothers and daughters; Small cities;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Snowflake : a novel / by Nealon, Louise,author.;
Eighteen-year-old Debbie was raised on her family's rural dairy farm, forty minutes and a world away from Dublin. She lives with her mother, Maeve, a skittish woman who takes to her bed for days on end, claims not to know who Debbie's father is, and believes her dreams are prophecies. Rounding out their small family is Maeve's brother Billy, who lives in a caravan behind their house, drinks too much, and likes to impersonate famous dead writers online. Though they may have their quirks, the Whites' fierce love for one another is never in doubt. But Debbie's life is changing. Earning a place at Trinity College Dublin, she commutes to her classes a few days a week. Outside the sheltered bubble of her childhood for the first time, Debbie finds herself both overwhelmed and disappointed by her fellow students and the pace and anonymity of city life. While the familiarity of the farm offers comfort, Debbie still finds herself pulling away from it. Yet just as she begins to ponder the possibilities the future holds, a resurgence of strange dreams raises her fears that she may share Maeve's fate. Then a tragic accident upends the family's equilibrium, and Debbie discovers her next steps may no longer be hers to choose.
Subjects: Bildungsromans.; Domestic fiction.; Teenage girls; College students; Dysfunctional families; Life change events; Depression, Mental; Self-realization in women; Dairy farms;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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All the quiet places / by Isaac, Brian Thomas,author.;
It's 1956, and six-year-old Eddie Toma lives with his mother, Grace, and his little brother, Lewis, near the Salmon River on the far edge of the Okanagan Indian Reserve in the British Columbia Southern Interior. Grace, her friend Isabel, Isabel's husband Ray, and his nephew Gregory cross the border to work as summer farm labourers in Washington state. There Eddie is free to spend long days with Gregory exploring the farm: climbing a hill to watch the sunset and listening to the wind in the grass. The boys learn from Ray's funny and dark stories. But when tragedy strikes, Eddie returns home grief-stricken, confused, and lonely. Eddie's life is governed by the decisions of the adults around him. Grace is determined to have him learn the ways of the white world by sending him to school in the small community of Falkland. On Eddie's first day of school, as he crosses the reserve boundary at the Salmon River bridge, he leaves behind his world. Grace challenges the Indian Agent and writes futile letters to Ottawa to protest the sparse resources in their community. His father returns to the family after years away only to bring chaos and instability. Isabel and Ray join them in an overcrowded house. Only in his grandmother's company does he find solace and true companionship. In his teens, Eddie's future seems more secure--he finds a job, and his long-time crush on his white neighbour Eva is finally reciprocated. But every time things look up, circumstances beyond his control crash down around him. The cumulative effects of guilt, grief, and despair threaten everything Eddie has ever known or loved. All the Quiet Places is the story of what can happen when every adult in a person's life has been affected by colonialism; it tells of the acute separation from culture that can occur even at home in a loved familiar landscape. Its narrative power relies on the unguarded, unsentimental witness provided by Eddie.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Bildungsromans.; Imperialism; First Nations children; First Nations;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Strange, spooky and supernatural : curious tales of fascinating people. places and things / by Browne, Mike,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Strange, Spooky and Supernatural is divided into three sections and recounts stories of unusual and enigmatic people, places and things. The first section explores strange people in history, including the death of escape artist and occult debunker Harry Houdini; BC resident Taylor Grainger, who left a note saying he was leaving on a spaceship and disappeared; and a man known only as Jerome, who was discovered on a Nova Scotia beach in 1863 and was unable to communicate anything about his past. The second section, about strange places, embarks on a journey around the world, touching down in locations cloaked in mystery and steeped in spine-chilling stories of hauntings, unexplained deaths and lost civilizations. This chapter includes stories about the Borley Rectory, which has been labelled the most haunted house in England; Nahanni National Park in the Northwest Territories, which is referred to by many as "the Valley of Headless Men"; and the unexplained occurrences at Old MacDonald's Farm in Caledonia Mills, Nova Scotia. In the final section, Browne explores mysterious things including the Van Meter Visitor, an unidentified nocturnal creature that terrorized citizens of the small town of Van Meter, Iowa, in 1903; the Vampire of Highgate Cemetery, an entity that allegedly haunted the famous cemetery in London during the 1970s; and the Philip Experiment, a 1970s-era parapsychological experiment conducted in Toronto. Strange, Spooky and Supernatural includes a foreword by paranormal researcher Morgan Knudsen, who is also a co-host of the podcast Supernatural Circumstances."--
Subjects: Curiosities and wonders.;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Results 51 to 60 of 79 | « previous |