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The first bright thing / by Dawson, J. R.(Omaha teaching artist),author.;
"If you knew how dark tomorrow would be, what would you do with today? ... Rin, to those who know her best--can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. And the circus they lead is a rare home and safe haven for magical misfits and outcasts, known as Sparks. With the world still reeling from World War I, Rin and her troupe--the Circus of the Fantasticals--travel the midwest, offering a single night of enchantment and respite to all who step into their Big Top. But threats come at Rin from all sides. The future holds an impending war that the Sparks can see barrelling toward their show and everyone in it. And Rin's past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow she can't fully escape. It takes the form of another circus, with tents as black as midnight and a ringmaster who rules over his troupe with a dangerous power. Rin's circus has something he wants, and he won't stop until it's his"--
Subjects: Fantasy fiction.; Historical fiction.; Paranormal fiction.; Novels.; Circus; Magic; Time travel;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Encampment : resistance, grace, and an unhoused community / by Helwig, Maggie,1961-author.;
The housing crisis plaguing major urban centres has sent countless people into the streets. In spring 2022, some of them found their way to the yard beside the Anglican church in Toronto's Kensington Market, where Maggie Helwig is the priest. They pitched tents, formed an encampment, and settled in. Known as an outspoken social justice activist, Helwig has spent the last three years getting to know the residents and fighting tooth and nail to allow them to stay, battling various authorities that want to clear the yard and keep the results of the housing crisis out of sight and out of mind. Encampment tells the story of Helwig's life-long activism as preparation for her fight to keep her churchyard open to people needing a home. More importantly, it introduces us to the Artist, to Jeff, and to Robin: their lives, their challenges, their humanity. It confronts our society's callousness in allowing so many to go unhoused and demands, by bringing their stories to the fore, that we begin to respond with compassion and grace.
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Helwig, Maggie, 1961-; Church work with the homeless; Homeless camps; Homeless persons; Homelessness; Political activists; Social justice; Women priests;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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A novel murder : a novel / by Nevin, E. C.,author.;
"In the quaint English town of Hoslewit, the biggest names in crime writing have congregated to celebrate all things bookish and murderous. Author Jane Hepburn is determined to make her time at the Killer Lines festival worthwhile. This is her chance to change her fortunes and make her fictional Detective Baker a household name. And if she has to resort to sneaking into the book tent after hours to rearrange some books so hers are front and center, so be it. But when Jane encounters the dead body of renowned (and reviled) literary agent Carrie Marks, the festival takes on a decidedly different tone. Joined by Carrie's newest client, debut novelist Natasha Martez, and the agency's hapless intern, Daniel Thurston, Jane decides to put her fictional sleuthing skills to use in the real world-she's going to solve the murder. But the list of suspects is long: seemingly everyone at the festival has a motive to kill Carrie, and the more Jane and her new friends investigate, the closer they come to a dangerous truth-one that's stranger than fiction"--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Cozy mysteries.; Novels.; Cities and towns; Festivals; Murder; Suspects (Criminal investigation); Women authors; Women private investigators;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Ecstasy : a novel / by Pochoda, Ivy,author.;
"In this dark horror reimagining of a Greek tragedy, a hedonistic cult leader teaches a new widow the true price of female freedom. Lena wants her life back. Her wealthy, controlling, humorless husband has just died, and now she contends with her controlling, humorless son, Drew. Lena lands in Athens with her best friend in tow for the unveiling of her son's, pet project -- the luxurious Agape Villas. Years of marriage amongst the wealthy have whittled Lena's spirit into rope and sinew, smothered by tasteful cocktail dresses and unending small talk. In Athens she yearns to rediscover her true nature, remember the exuberant dancer and party girl she once was, but Drew tightens his grip, keeping her cloistered inside the cavernous, marble rooms of Agape, demanding that she fall in line. But Lena is intrigued by a group of women living in tents on the beach in front of the hotel. She can their music at night, hear them calling her to dance. Soon she'll find that an ancient God stirs here on the beach, and women are waking up all around the island, driving mother and son toward a monstrous, gory battle, where only one of them will make it out alive"--
Subjects: Horror fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Cults; Mothers and sons; Widows; Women;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Handmade glamping : add a touch of glamour to your camping trip with these 35 gorgeous craft projects / by Liddle, Charlotte,author.; Hopping, Lucy,author.;
"Using a variety of crafting techniques including knitting, crochet, quilting, embroidery, patchwork, and appliqué, Charlotte Liddle and Lucy Hopping have created a wonderful range of accessories that will bring retro charm to your idyllic country getaway. Whether you fancy a quiet retreat to secluded beaches or are off to live it up at the summer festivals, you will find something to make your home-away-from-home-look-stunning, and feel cozy and comfortable. Divided into four chapters, Handmade Glamping starts with Recycling and Repurposing, which will show you how to make some stunning embroidered curtains using vintage fabrics, or the hexagonal patchwork scatter pillows to put on the camp bed. In Campfire Cooking there is everything you'll need for a romantic meal under the stars, including decorated plates, quilted placemats, and a picnic bag. Pretty Decorations has crocheted bunting to string outside, a cute cross-stitch picture to hang inside, and pretty storage ideas for small spaces that recycle jam jars and other household items. Finally, Outdoor Living comes with ideas for candle holders, a tent tidy, a wind break, and even a reupholstered deck chair.' --Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Camping; Decoration and ornament.; Handicraft.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Degrees of separation [graphic novel] : a decade north of 60 / by McCreesh, Alison,author,illustrator.;
At age 21, Alison hitchhiked to the Yukon and spent the summer living in a tent. 10 years later, in the deep of winter and seven months pregnant, she returns. Degrees of Separation is about what happened in between. Over the course of a decade, artist Alison McCreesh lived, worked, and travelled north of the 60th parallel. Through a combination of autobiographical stories, drawings and sketches, Degrees of Separation offers an intimate and understated glimpse of the North as Alison experienced it. From frigid days spent killing time while stranded in the High Arctic, to the challenges of raising a baby in a small shack with no running water, it is one young woman's personal experience of both passing through and of setting down roots. Tinged with McCreesh's characteristic blend of humour and humanity, Degrees of Separation is about the north and its vastness and its diversity. While the backdrop may seem foreign to many, this collection is also a universal exploration of those transformative years from young-adulthood to motherhood. It's a graphic novel navigating themes of connection and disconnect, between the north and the south, but also between different norths and between our different selves.
Subjects: Biographical comics.; Nonfiction comics.; Autobiographical comics.; Graphic novels.; Personal narratives.; Travel comics.; McCreesh, Alison; McCreesh, Alison; McCreesh, Alison; McCreesh, Alison; Artists; Travelers' writings, Canadian; Women cartoonists;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Mongolian chronicles : a story of eagles, demons, and empires / by Smutylo, Allen,1946-author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In the shadows of the Altai Mountains live the Kazakh nomads of western Mongolia. These hard-living nomads survive on windswept steppes, grazing their herds and keeping an ancient practice alive: hunting not with traps or guns, but on horseback with golden eagles. The Mongolian Chronicles recounts a story of this untamed world, seen through the eyes of artist, writer, and traveller Allen Smutylo. Smutylo lived with seven eagle hunters and their families for several weeks over two years, affording him rare insight into a disappearing culture. His extraordinary narrative is set within the context of Mongolia's turbulent past -- the long shadow cast by the empire of Genghis Khan, the deprivations of early twentieth century warlords-cum-mystics -- and its protean present, where ancient customs and shamanistic beliefs exist among an increasingly urbanized people. Smutylo's vivid prose and powerful artwork portray a Mongolia of contradictions and extremes. Readers will encounter a country with a vast wilderness that nonetheless has one of the most polluted capitals on earth; a modern economy in which tent-dwelling nomads still rely on their animals for survival; a people unchanged for millennia, yet recognizing that their way of life may disappear with their generation."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Smutylo, Allen, 1946-; Kazakhs; Falconers; Hunting;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Tough broad : from boogie boarding to wing walking-how outdoor adventure improves our lives as we age / by Paul, Caroline,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.Caroline Paul has always filled her life with adventure: from mountain biking in the Bolivian Andes to pitching a tent, mid-blizzard, on Denali, she has never been a stranger to the exhilaration the outdoors can hold. Yet through it all, she has long wondered, why aren't women, like men, encouraged to keep adventuring into old age? 'Tough Broad' is her quest to understand not just how to live a dynamic life in a changing body, but why we must. She dives deep into the current research on aging, and highlights the results with the stories of women like ninety-three-year-old hiker Dot Fisher-Smith, eighty-year-old scuba diver Louise Wholey, fifty-two-year-old BASE jumper Shawn Brokemond, sixty-four-year-old birdwatcher Virginia Rose, and the many septuagenarian Wave Chasers who boogie board together in the San Diego surf. These women aren't experts. But their experiences and the scientific studies that back them up offer important insight into our own physical and emotional health as we age, showing that growing older is no reason for women to sell themselves short. 'Tough Broad' is a high-spirited call for women to embrace the outdoors, not back away from it, in our fifties, sixties, seventies, and beyond, casting our own futures in a new and dazzling light.
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Aging; Older women athletes.; Older women; Older women; Outdoor recreation for women.; Aging;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Christmas room / by Anderson, Catherine(Adeline Catherine),author.;
"The beloved author of the Mystic Creek series gifts readers with a novel of homespun good cheer, as two families discover the joy of hope and redemption -- just in time for the holidays. As summer gives way to fall in Rustlers Gulch, widow Maddie McLendon begins to have second thoughts about uprooting her life to move there with her son and grandson. Contractors have yet to break ground on their new house, leaving them -- along with four horses, three dogs, and six cats -- to live in a makeshift camp of trailers, tents, and sheds, while a brutal Montana winter looms on the horizon. Millionaire rancher Sam Conacher doesn't take kindly to his foolish new neighbours, but then he hasn't taken kindly to anyone since his wife died six years earlier. He's content to wallow in his grief alone, while keeping a tight rein on his twenty-six-year-old daughter. But now Sam's daughter has gone and fallen in love with Maddie's no-good son. Though drawn together by their love-struck kids, Maddie and Sam never see eye to eye on anything, until a near-tragedy gives them a true glimpse into each other's souls. And as the first snowflakes begin to fall, they'll discover the secrets and slipups that have brought each of them to this point in their lives -- to when an open heart is the biggest gift of all"--
Subjects: Romance fiction.; Domestic fiction.; Parent and adult child; Man-woman relationships; Christmas;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Whatever next? : lessons from an unexpected life / by Glenconner, Anne,1932-author.;
"Lady in Waiting brought us royal magic, beguiling insight, and jaw-dropping stories from life inside Anne Glenconner's privileged circle, which though golden didn't always glitter. As she revealed in her memoir, it has been one of stark contrasts--from growing up in the splendor of Holkham Hall to living in a tent in the jungle of Mustique, from traveling the world with Princess Margaret to coping with her wildly unpredictable husband Lord Glenconner. She has also survived the tragic loss of two of her sons and nursed a third son back from a coma. Now in her ninth decade and at her happiest, she's keen to share everything her unexpected life has taught her--the wise, the hilarious, the poignant, and the illuminating. As a wife, she became a master in the art of keeping the peace, knowing when to pick her battles, when she needed help--and when to take a lover. As a hostess, she acquired great practical skills in throwing marvelous parties and looking after magnificent homes, and, as a lady in waiting, became well versed in diplomacy and etiquette. It was as a mother she learnt the toughest lessons of all, and through them the value of friendship, family, and laughter to get her through the worst moments in life, as well as celebrate the best of them. Whatever Next? is a treasury of hard-won wisdom, and richly entertaining proof that staying open to every new adventure sets an inspiring example for us all"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Glenconner, Anne, 1932-;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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