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The Manningtree witches : a novel / by Blakemore, A. K.,1991-author.;
"England, 1643. Puritanical fervour has gripped the nation. And in Manningtree, a town depleted of men since the wars began, the hot terror of damnation burns black in the hearts of women who have finally been left to their own devices. Rebecca West, fatherless and husbandless, chafes against the drudgery of her days, livened only occasionally by her infatuation with the clerk John Edes. But then a newcomer, Matthew Hopkins, arrives. A mysterious, pious figure dressed from head to toe in black, he takes over the Thorn Inn and begins to ask questions about what the women on the margins of this diminished community are up to. Dangerous rumors of covens, pacts, and bodily wants have begun to hang over women like Rebecca-and the future is as frightening as it is thrilling. With brilliant energy and ambition, The Manningtree Witches plunges its readers into the fever and menace of the English witch trials, where suspicion, mistrust and betrayal run amok as a nation's patriarchal institutions start to realize that the very people they've suppressed may be about to rise up and claim their freedom"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Hopkins, Matthew, -1647; Witchcraft; Witch hunting; Women;

888 love and the divine burden of numbers / by Chang, Abraham,author.;
"Young is an American Born Chinese (ABC) growing up in Queens and has been told by his beloved Su Su (uncle) that one has only seven great loves in a lifetime. Young's childhood is marked by an obsessive love of comics, music, and movies ... as well as a parade of school-yard crushes, tantalizing pen-pal exchanges, and a lasting infatuation with Winona Ryder. But, at the end of 1995, when Young is a sophomore at NYU, he meets Erena-brilliant, charismatic, quick-witted, and crassly funny. They fall in love and, for Young, it feels so real that he's thrilled and terrified that it could be his lasting love number seven. Interspersed through Young and Erena's story are flashbacks to various points in the 80s and early 90s where we meet Young's great loves one through five. Written with the pop culture fluency of High Fidelity, the tender family drama of Everything Everywhere All at Once, the literary scope of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and with a bombastically sweet style all his own, Abraham Chang's 888 Love and the Divine Burden of Numbers is a monumental debut that will be read for years to come"--
Subjects: Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Chinese Americans; Love; Man-woman relationships; Nineteen nineties;

Dykette : a novel / by Davis, Jenny Fran,author.;
"An addictive, absurd, and darkly hilarious debut novel about a young woman who embarks on a ten-day getaway with her partner and two other queer couples. Sasha and Jesse are professionally creative, erotically adventurous, and passionately dysfunctional twentysomethings making a life together in Brooklyn. When a pair of older, richer lesbians--prominent news host Jules Todd and her psychotherapist partner, Miranda--invites Sasha and Jesse to their country home for the holidays, they're quick to accept. Even if the trip includes a third couple--Jesse's best friend, Lou, and their cool-girl flame, Darcy--whose It-queer clout Sasha ridicules yet desperately wants. As the late December afternoons blur together in a haze of debaucherous homecooked feasts and sweaty sauna confessions, so too do the guests' secret and shifting motivations. When Jesse and Darcy collaborate an ill-fated livestream performance, a complex web of infatuation and jealousy emerges, sending Sasha down a spiral of destructive rage that threatens each couple's future. Unfolding over ten heady days, Dykette is an unforgettable love story at the crossroads of queer nonconformity and seductive normativity. With propulsive plotting and sexy, wickedly entertaining prose, Jenny Fran Davis captures the vagaries of desire and the many devastating places in which we seek recognition"--
Subjects: Humorous fiction.; Lesbian fiction.; Queer fiction.; Novels.; Interpersonal relations; Jealousy; Lesbian couples; Lesbians;

His promise : an Amish Christmas in Hart County / by Gray, Shelley Shepard,author.;
"New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray’s latest Christmas novel in her Amish of Hart County series. It’s set to be a white Christmas in Hart County, and Grace King is pet-sitting in a beautiful home with only a difficult dachshund for company. Just as she starts to miss the bustle of her large Amish family, Grace runs into a familiar face. Living right next door is John Michael Miller. He’s a fireman now, but five years ago, he had courted her older sister, then broke her heart. Seeing him again stirs Grace’s anger, but also reminds her of deeper feelings she’s done her best to deny. The infatuation John Michael once saw in Grace’s eyes is long gone, though his complicated attraction to her remains. He had walked away all those years ago when he realized he was falling in love with the wrong sister. Now, as suspicious fires are set in their community, that’s not an option. Grace dismisses his warnings, and John Michael vows to keep an eye on her. But he can’t help wondering if he’s reconnected with Grace, only to risk losing her again. Now all John Michael wants for Christmas is to keep Grace safe, in the hopes that they can one day have a future together."--provided by publisher.sw
Subjects: Romance fiction.; Detective and mystery fiction.; Christmas fiction.; Christian fiction.; Romantic suspense fiction.; Novels.; Amish; Arson; Man-woman relationships;

In memoriam / by Winn, Alice(Alice Mary Felicity),1992-author.;
"It's 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, all of whom are safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. They receive weekly dispatches from The Preshutian, their school newspaper, informing them of older classmates killed or wounded in action. Their heroic deaths only make the war more exciting. Gaunt, half-German, is busy fighting his own private battle- an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the gorgeous, rich, charming Ellwood-not having a clue that Ellwood is pining for him in return. Meanwhile, Gaunt's German mother and twin sister ask him to enlist as an officer in the British army to protect the family from the anti-German attacks they're already facing. Gaunt signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. The front is horrific, of course, and though Gaunt tries to dissuade Ellwood from joining him on the battlefield, Ellwood soon rushes to join him, fueled by his education in Greek heroics and romantic wartime poetry. Before long, most of their classmates have followed suit. Once in the trenches, the boys become intimately acquainted with the harsh realities of war. Ellwood and Gaunt find fleeting moments of solace in one other, but their friends are all dying, often in front of them, and no one knows when they'll be next"--
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Friendship; Gay men; Interpersonal relations; World War, 1914-1918;

How to pronounce knife : stories / by Thammavongsa, Souvankham,1978-author.;
A young man painting nails at the local salon. A woman plucking feathers at a chicken processing plant. A father who packs furniture to move into homes he'll never afford. A housewife learning English from daytime soap operas. In her stunning debut book of fiction, O. Henry Award winner Souvankham Thammavongsa focuses on characters struggling to make a living, illuminating their hopes, disappointments, love affairs, acts of defiance, and above all their pursuit of a place to belong. In spare, intimate prose charged with emotional power and a sly wit, she paints an indelible portrait of watchful children, wounded men, and restless women caught between cultures, languages, and values. As one of Thammavongsa's characters says, "All we wanted was to live." And in these stories, they do--brightly, ferociously, unforgettably. A daughter becomes an unwilling accomplice in her mother's growing infatuation with country singer Randy Travis. A boxer finds an unexpected chance at redemption while working at his sister's nail salon. An older woman finds her assumptions about the limits of love unravelling when she begins a relationship with her much younger neighbour. A school bus driver must grapple with how much he's willing to give up in order to belong. And in the Commonwealth Short Story Prize-shortlisted title story, a young girl's unconditional love for her father transcends language. Unsentimental yet tender, and fiercely alive, How to Pronounce Knife announces Souvankham Thammavongsa as one of the most striking voices of her generation.
Subjects: Short stories.;

Watching you : a novel / by Jewell, Lisa,author.;
"Melville Heights is one of the nicest neighborhoods in Bristol, England. It's the sort of place where doctors and lawyers and old-money academics live. It's not the sort of place where people get stabbed in the back thirty times with a kitchen knife in their own homes. Someone must have seen something. Newlywed Joey Mullen, for example, recently returned from four years working in Ibiza. She and her husband Alfie are eager to find a place of their own in her hometown. But Joey finds herself distracted by the man next door, Tom Fitzwilliam. He's the principal of the local high school, twice her age, and devastatingly attractive. What starts as an innocent infatuation soon escalates into fixation, and before long, Joey can't keep her eyes off of Tom. Or the principal's son, Freddie, who dreams of working as a spy, and has been developing his surveillance skills by keeping meticulous logs of the coming and goings in the area. And, as he approaches his fifteenth birthday, his attention--and his lens--are turning more and more towards the local women. Or perhaps single mother Frances Tripp, who has long been convinced she is being stalked. Her teenage daughter Jenna is worried these delusions are signs of her mother's deteriorating mental health, particularly now that her paranoia has found a specific target: Tom Fitzwilliam. Frances is determined to keep an eye on him until she can prove that he is behind her persecution. Twenty years earlier, a schoolgirl writes in her diary, charting her doomed obsession with a handsome young English teacher named Mr. Fitzwilliam. Nobody knows why this horrific murder was committed, but someone in Melville Heights knows who did it. As the community's fearful eyes turn on each other, the question remains: Who else is watching?"--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Murder;

The hidden power of the five hearts : empower your thoughts, balance your emotions, and unlock vibrant health and abundance / by Snyder, Kimberly,author.;
Includes bibliographic references."New York Times best-selling author Kimberly Snyder shows that your heart is not just a muscle pumping blood through your body or a metaphor for sentimental love. It is a center of profound intelligence. When you learn to work with your heart and harness your heart intelligence, you create heart coherence, or more efficient communication between your heart, brain, and nervous system. In doing that, you can access a far deeper intelligence--heart intelligence--that infuses the whole of your life with a different kind of synergistic power, paving the path to your best performance, higher health, incredible relationships, and the ability to find better solutions throughout your day, no matter what you are doing. There are five progressive stages that make up the process of awakening your heart intelligence and heart coherence, as well as unlocking the energetic, or spiritual, heart. These five stages of heart awakening are inspired by the teachings of the revered yoga guru Swami Sri Yukteswar, guru to Paramahansa Yogananda. The Five Hearts are as follows: The Dark Heart ; The Propelled Heart ; The Steady Heart ; The Devoted Heart ; The Clear Heart. As she did in You Are More Than You Think You Are, Kimberly shares a modern perspective on ancient teachings through the lens of her own spiritual journey and experiences of the heart as well as the latest research in science, psychology, and personal transformation. Using practical exercises, meditations, and journaling prompts, Kimberly teaches that following your heart does not mean going along with strong, obsessive, or erratic thoughts and emotions--whether they are anger, desire, worry, infatuation, or fear--that ultimately limit the quality of your life. Instead, heart intelligence is calm, intuitive, and emotionally intelligent; it gives you access to more mental clarity and to expansive solutions that are the best for your life in the long term. It puts your body, mind, and life into peak performance"--
Subjects: Heart.; Meditation.; Mind and body therapies.;

The Safekeep [electronic resource] : by van der Wouden, Yael.aut; cloudLibrary;
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 BOOKER PRIZE * Longlisted for the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize • A Best Book of 2024: The Washington Post, Time, Kirkus Reviews, BookPage, The Sunday Times (London) “Remarkable…Compelling…Fine and taut…Indelible.” —The New York Times • “Moving, unnerving, and deeply sexy.” —Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with the Pearl Earring • “A brilliant debut, as multi-faceted as a gem.” —Kirkus Reviews A “razor-sharp, perfectly plotted” (The Sunday Times, London) tale of desire, suspicion, and obsession between two women staying in the same house in the Dutch countryside during the summer of 1961—a powerful exploration of the legacy of WWII and the darker parts of our collective past. A house is a precious thing... It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be—led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season. Eva is Isabel’s antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn’t. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house—a spoon, a knife, a bowl—Isabel’s suspicions begin to spiral. In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to infatuation, leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva—nor the house in which they live—are what they seem. Mysterious, sophisticated, sensual, and infused with intrigue, atmosphere, and sex, The Safekeep is “a brave and thrilling debut about facing up to the truth of history, and to one’s own desires” (The Guardian).
Subjects: Electronic books.; Jewish; Literary; Historical;
© 2024., Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster,

What an owl knows : the new science of the world's most enigmatic birds / by Ackerman, Jennifer,1959-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way, a brilliant scientific exploration of owls, the most elusive group of birds, and an investigation into why these remarkable and yet mysterious animals exert such a hold on human imagination For centuries, owls have captivated and intrigued us. Our fascination with these mysterious birds was first documented over 30,000 years ago, in the Chauvet cave paintings in southern France, and our enduring awareness and curiosity of their forward gaze and nearly silent flight has cemented the owl as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge, foresight and intuition. But what, really, does an owl know? Though our infatuation goes back centuries, scientists have only recently begun to study these birds in great detail. While more than 270 species exist today, and reside on every continent except Antarctica, owls are far more difficult to find and study than other birds--because while not only cryptic and perfectly camouflaged, owls are most active in the dark of night. Joining scientists on this maddening and elusive treasure hunt, Jennifer Ackerman brings alive the rich biological history of these animals and reveals the remarkable scientific discoveries into their brains and behavior. She explores how, with the modern technology and tools, researchers now know that owls talk all night long--without opening their bills. That that their hoots follow a series of complex rules, allowing them to express needs and desires. That owls duet. They migrate. They use tools. They hoard their prey. Some live in underground burrows, some dine on scorpions. Ackerman brings this research alive with her own personal field observations about owls, and dives deep too into why this bird endlessly inspires and beguiles us. WHAT AN OWL KNOWS is an awe-inspiring and spellbinding journey across the globe and through human history, and a dazzling account of the astonishing health, hunting skills, communication, and sensory prowess that distinguishes the owl from nearly all other birds. An extraordinary glimpse into the mind of these brilliant animals, WHAT AN OWLS KNOWS pulls back the curtain on the the hidden and still undiscovered realities of our shared world"--
Subjects: Owls; Owls.;