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Mindful of Murder A Novel - A Comedic Whodunit with a Wiccan Twist [electronic resource] : by Juby, Susan.aut; Larsen, Lisa.nrt; cloudLibrary;
Meet Helen Thorpe. She’s smart, preternaturally calm, deeply insightful and a freshly trained butler. On the day she is supposed to start her career as an unusually equanimous domestic professional serving one of the wealthiest families in the world, she is called back to a spiritual retreat where she used to work, the Yatra Institute, on one of British Columbia’s gulf islands. The owner of the lodge, Helen’s former employer Edna, has died while on a three-month silent self-retreat, leaving Helen instructions to settle her affairs. But Edna’s will is more detailed than most, and getting things in order means Helen must run the retreat for a select group to determine which of Edna’s relatives will inherit the institute. Helen’s classmates, newly minted butlers themselves, decide they can’t let her go it alone and arrive to help Helen pull things off. After all, is there anything three butlers can’t handle? As Helen carries out the will’s instructions, she begins to think that someone had reason to want Edna dead. A reluctantly suspicious investigator, Helen and her band of butlers find themselves caught up in the mystery. With its strong female protagonist and focus on female killers like Miss Smithers and Alice MacLeod, 'Mindful of Murder' is a refreshing addition to the canon of murder mystery novels. HarperCollins 2024
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Amateur Sleuth; Humorous;
© 2022., HarperCollins,
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The messy lives of book people / by Patrick, Phaedra,author.;
"The house cleaner of a famous author must carry out her employer's shocking last wish in this delightful new novel from beloved author Phaedra Patrick. Mother of two Liv Green barely scrapes by as a maid to make ends meet, often finding escape in a good book while daydreaming of becoming a writer herself. So she can't believe her luck when she lands a job housekeeping for her personal hero, megabestselling author Essie Starling, a mysterious and intimidating recluse. The last thing Liv expected was to be the only person Essie talks to, which leads to a tenuous friendship. When Essie passes away suddenly, Liv is astonished to learn that her dying wish was for Liv to complete her final novel. But to do so Liv will have to step into Essie's shoes. As Liv begins to write, she uncovers secrets from the past that reveal a surprising connection between the two women--one that will change Liv's own story forever ..."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Humorous fiction.; Novels.; Authors; Books and reading; Female friendship; Life change events; Secrecy; Self-realization in women; Single mothers; Women household employees;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Measure of a man [videorecording] / by Cooper, Blake,2001-actor.; Greer, Judy,1975-actor.; Lipsyte, Robert,screenwriter.; Loach, Jim,1969-film director.; Scearce, David,screenwriter.; Sutherland, Donald,1935-actor.; Taylor, Christian,1968-film producer.; Wilson, Luke,1971-actor.; Lions Gate Home Entertainment,film distributor.;
Blake Cooper, Donald Sutherland, Luke Wilson, Judy Greer, Beau Knapp.Teen Bobby (Blake Cooper) spends his summer vacation working as a groundskeeper for the very wealthy yet obscure Dr. Kahn (Donald Sutherland). After he's repeatedly bullied by other boys vacationing at the lake, he turns to his mysterious employer for guidance on navigating life's low points.Canadian Home Video Rating: PG.MPAA rating: PG-13; for thematic content including some intense bullying, teen drinking and sexuality, and for language.DVD ; widescreen presentation ; Dolby Digital 5.1.
Subjects: Coming-of-age films.; Comedy films.; Feature films.; Fiction films.; Bullies; Families; Self-perception; Teenage boys; Mentoring; Male friendship;
For private home use only.
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Gilded mountain : a novel / by Manning, Kate,author.;
In a voice spiked with sly humor, Sylvie Pelletier recounts leaving her family's snowbound mountain cabin to work in a manor house for the Padgetts, owners of the marble-mining company that employs her father and dominates the town. Sharp-eyed Sylvie is awed by the luxury around her; fascinated by her employer, the charming “Countess” Inge, and confused by the erratic affections of Jasper, the bookish heir to the family fortune. Her fairy-tale ideas of romance take a dark turn when she realizes the Padgetts' lofty philosophical talk is at odds with the unfair labor practices that have enriched them. Their servants, the Gradys, formerly enslaved people, have long known this to be true and are making plans to form a utopian community on the Colorado prairie. Outside the manor walls, the town of Moonstone is roiling with discontent. A handsome union organizer, along with labor leader Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, is stirring up the quarry workers. The editor of the local newspaper--a bold woman who takes Sylvie on as an apprentice--is publishing unflattering accounts of the Padgett Company. Sylvie navigates vastly different worlds and struggles to find her way amid conflicting loyalties. When the harsh winter brings tragedy, Sylvie must choose between silence and revenge. Drawn from true stories of Colorado history, Gilded Mountain is a tale of a bygone American West seized by robber barons and settled by immigrants, and is a story infused with longing--for self-expression and equality, freedom and adventure.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Household employees; Social classes; Social justice;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Mania A Novel [electronic resource] : by Shriver, Lionel.aut; cloudLibrary;
Set in a parallel yet all too familiar near past, a brilliant subversive novel about a lifelong friendship threatened by culture wars, from the New York Times bestselling author. In an alternative 2011, the Mental Parity movement takes hold. Americans now embrace the sacred, universal truth that there is no such thing as variable human intelligence. Because everyone is equally smart, discrimination against purportedly dumb people is "the last great civil rights fight." Tests, grades, and employment qualifications are all discarded. Children are expelled for saying the S-word (“stupid”) and encouraged to report parents who use it at home. A college English instructor, the constitutionally rebellious Pearson Converse rejected her restrictive Jehovah’s Witness upbringing as a teenager, and so has an aversion to dogma of any kind. Made impotent in the university classroom, she’s also enraged by the crushing of her exceptionally bright children’s spirits in primary school. Fortunately, she enjoys the confidence of a best friend, a media commentator with whom she can speak frankly about her socially unacceptable contempt for the MP movement. Or at least she thinks she can . . . until one day the political chasm between the two women becomes uncrossable, and a lifelong relationship implodes. With echoes of Philip Roth’s The Human Stain, told in Lionel Shriver’s inimitable and iconoclastic voice, Mania is a sharp, acerbic, and ruthlessly funny book about the road to a delusional, self-destructive egalitarianism that our society is already on.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Dystopian; Literary; Family Life;
© 2024., HarperCollins,
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The shadow key : a novel in four branches / by Stokes-Chapman, Susan,1985-author.;
"Dismissed from his post at a prestigious London hospital, Dr. Henry Talbot has little choice but to accept a mysterious offer of employment as a private physician from an inscrutable lord of a rural manor in Wales. Arriving at Plas Helyg, Lord Julian's isolated estate, Henry can't speak the language and finds himself treated with hostile suspicion by superstitious villagers, whose beliefs in myths and magic he's inclined to dismiss. But when he discovers that his predecessor died under peculiar, inexplicable circumstances, his determination to uncover the truth leads him down a path fraught with danger-made all the more perilous by his headstrong, reluctant ally Linette, Lord Julian's niece. Linette has lived a lonely life as Plas Helyg's unconventional mistress: her uncle treats her with disdain, her father is long dead, and her mother, long plagued by strange spells and believed by everyone around her to be deeply unwell, spends most of her time locked away in her rooms. Fiercely self-reliant, Linette refuses to wear women's clothes, has no interest in marriage, and takes an interest in the welfare of the men working in Lord Julian's mines, against his wishes. Linette has always suspected something is not quite right in the village, but it is only through Henry's dogged investigations that the dark truth about those closest to her will come to light-a truth that will bind hers and Henry's destinies together forever in ways neither thought possible"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Gothic fiction.; Novels.; Physicians; Villages; Mythology, Celtic;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Natural beauty : a novel / by Huang, Ling Ling,1989-author.;
"In this sly, surprising, and razor-sharp debut novel, a virtuoso pianist gives up her future as a musician to work at a high-end wellness store in New York City where the pursuit of beauty comes at a staggering cost. Our narrator is the youngest student at the Conservatory. She produces a sound from the piano no one else does, employing a special technique she learned from her parents--also stunningly talented musicians--who fled China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. But when an accident leaves her parents debilitated, she abandons her future as a pianist and accepts a job at a high-end beauty and wellness store in New York City. Holistik is known for its remarkable products and outrageous procedures: remoras that suck cheap Botox from the body, eyelash extensions made of spider silk, emotional support ducklings bred to imprint on their owners. Every product is ethically sourced and made with nothing but the highest quality ingredients. Our narrator's new job is a coveted one among New York's beauty-obsessed, and it affords her entry into a new world of privilege. She becomes transfixed by Helen--a model, and the niece of Holistik's charismatic owner--and the two strike up a close friendship that hazily veers into more. All the while, Holistik plies our narrator with products that slim her thighs, smooth her skin, lighten her hair, and change her eye color. But beneath these fancy creams and tinctures lies a terrible truth that threatens to consume her. After all, beauty is nothing without ugliness. NATURAL BEAUTY is a piercing, terrifying, and darkly funny debut that eviscerates the beauty and wellness industry, exploring questions of consumerism, self-worth, race, and identity. This propulsive novel takes a world that feels familiar and pushes it to a conclusion that at first might seem jarring, but when we inch closer, settles on us as truth"--
Subjects: Black humor.; Satirical literature.; Novels.; Beauty, Personal; Chinese Americans; Women pianists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Beautiful Summer. by Luchetti, Laura,film director.; Piavani, Alessandro,actor.; Bosca, Andrea,actor.; Cassel, Deva,actor.; Maupas, Nicolas,actor.; Yara Vianello, Yile,actor.; Film Movement (Firm),dst; Kanopy (Firm),dst;
Alessandro Piavani, Andrea Bosca, Deva Cassel, Nicolas Maupas, Yile Yara VianelloOriginally produced by Film Movement in 2023.Turin, 1938. Seventeen-year-old Ginia (Yile Yara Vianello) leaves the countryside with her brother in search of a new life in the city. Though Turin lies in the shadow of a rising fascist government and her brother yearns to return home, Ginia is optimistic about the future. In a short time, she excels in her work as a seamstress at an atelier, gaining new clients with her designs and impressing her otherwise irascible employer. Restless and seeking adventure, Ginia soon finds it in a beautiful, enigmatic young woman named Amelia (Deva Cassel). Though similar in age, her new friend’s sensuality and confidence embolden Ginia to begin modeling for the bohemian artists in their circle. A whirlwind affair ensues, and the young seamstress finds herself swept up in this unfamiliar and exciting world, all the while never escaping Amelia’s spell. The young women grow closer, and Ginia makes an emotional journey towards self-discovery over the course of one beautiful, sun-dappled summer. Featuring tender performances by Vianello and Cassel, Laura Luchetti’s latest coming-of-age drama showcases “the intertwined complexities of first love and first sexual experiences, highlighting the inevitable messiness and poignancy of adolescence” (Screen Anarchy).Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subjects: Feature films.; Foreign films.; Motion pictures.; Drama.; Queer cinema.; Motion pictures--Italy.; Historical films.; Coming-of-age films.; Nineteen thirties.; Motion pictures--Europe.;
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