![]() ![]() Lisa has also published two historical novels set in medieval England and Normandy, On Falcon’s Wings, featuring a star-crossed romance between Norman and Saxon lovers before the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and The Burning Candle, based on the life of the first Countess of Leicester and Surrey, Isabel de Vermandois, progenitor of modern royal and non-noble families. She has also written The Order of the Dragon – Book One, the first novel in a series about the family of the real Dracula. The first title in the series is available in multiple languages. Yarde is the author of a six-part series set in Moorish Spain, Sultana, Sultana’s Legacy, Sultana: Two Sisters, Sultana: The Bride Price, Sultana: The Pomegranate Tree, and Sultana: The White Mountains, where rivalries and ambitions threaten the fragile bonds between members of the last Muslim dynasty to rule in Europe. ![]()
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![]() ![]() When you realize that Helena is invisible even to Sabine, the scene becomes wild. One of the funniest incidents involves Helena stealing files from the New Orleans Police Department and pushing along a hot dog cart as camouflage. I laughed at her “disguise” for sneaking around the hospital, dressed as a nun, despite the fact that only Sabine can see her. Helena just cracked me up throughout the whole book, whether she is eating Sabine’s food while invisible or changing her myriad costumes. ![]() This book is a funny book with a good mystery too. Beau, a former FBI agent and the hottest man Sabine has ever seen, finds her family in a span of only a couple days, but they clearly have some hidden secrets. Thus, Sabine’s mentor, Raisa, hires a private investigator to track down Sabine’s family, using a drawing Raisa makes based upon a picture Helena is able to generate from her look into the other side that she can’t reach. Just as she has gained a measure of peace about her background, she learns that she has leukemia, making the search for her family become important once again. Orphaned as an infant and raised by a great-aunt who claims no knowledge of any other family members, Sabine has long sought out her family and some knowledge of her parents. Ghost Helena returns in Jana DeLeon’s Mischief in Mudbug, but this time she focuses on helping Sabine, whom we met in Trouble in Mudbug as the best friend of Maryse, the main character and daughter-in-law of Helena. ![]() ![]() Please remember not to post any SPOILER ("You'll talk about it, but please don't tell the ending"!!) in your comments. As long as the adaptation ran in London’s West End (as it has for over 60 years) the short story wasn’t to be published. ![]() The short story version was never published in the UK on Christie’s insistence that it should not clash with the 1952 stage adaptation, famously renamed The Mousetrap. Agatha Christie then adapted the 30-minute radio play in 1948 to a short story, published in May in Cosmopolitan magazine, and later in the 1950 US collection Three Blind Mice and Other Stories. ![]() ![]() The radio play was first broadcast on the BBC in 1947. Unfortunately no recording of the original performance exists. She donated her fee of one hundred Guineas to the Southport Infirmary Children’s Toy Fund. The BBC got in touch with Christie and asked if she would like to write a short radio play for the Queen, which she happily obliged to and created Three Blind Mice. ![]() When Queen Mary was asked what she would like for her 80th birthday, she requested a new story from one of her favourite writers, Agatha Christie. Snowed in, the residents of a guest house find themselves trapped with a murderer. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I love the book series Mitford Years by Jan Karon. Today we are starting with At Home In Mitford. We will occasionally share some thoughts on the book, the movie, and what we liked or didn’t like about them. What do you do though when you want to watch a popular movie that is based on a book? Do you avoid it? Do you make sure to read the book before watching the movie? Do you watch the movie knowing that you might hate it? Or do you watch it and hope that you will fall in love with it?Īfter having many conversations on this subject, Grace and I decided to do a series of posts on the book vs the movie. She loves to watch old movies and shows, and we have a family movie night almost every week. We also love to watch movies and TV shows, especially Grace. Grace and I have asked ourselves this many times. What do you do when the book is so very different from the movie or TV version?ĭo you throw the book out the window? Do you refuse to watch the movie? Do you watch it and yell and scream about how inaccurate one or the other is? movie based on the popular Mitford book series. ![]() ![]() ![]() Ever practical, Simone assumes the claim is baseless, but her best friend encourages her to find out for sure. ![]() ![]() Melody Carlson invites you to cuddle up this holiday season with this cozy story of giving, forgiving, and a little bit of romance.Īfter a time of heartache and loss, Simone Winthrop discovers a tantalizing letter from her French great-grandmother, which seems to suggest that she is heir to a family treasure. Between free-spirited artist Tasha, chatty empty nester Beverly, retired therapist Eleanor, and herself, Vera has hopes that Christmas for the Albright family will be merry, after all-and she may find herself a new family of friends along the way. Vera will have to get a ragtag group of women together in order to fulfill the request. ![]() With her mother seriously ill and her father out of town, Fiona enlists Vera's help, and when she finds out her new neighbor is a quilter, she has a special request-a Christmas quilt for Mama. Widowed and recently relocated, she is lonely in her condo-for-one-until little Fiona Albright knocks on her door needing help. But for Vera Swanson, that's not an option this year. Up for my "True to Life Fiction" Newsletter.Ĭhristmas should be celebrated with family. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The Illumination combines love, war, and man's search for self in a story that is both shocking and poetic. What happens during those weeks and in its aftermath will shape not only the world, but also the lives of those who experienced it, demonstrating the truth inherent in all war, and that as soldiers of every age have experienced, war is not only fought without but within, and the macrocosm of a world in conflict also reflects an intrinsic war where each man and woman must find his and her own sense of peace. ![]() One English, one American, and one Irish, they forge a friendship which transcends nationality, surviving the harrowing nature of a war which would devastate an entire generation. Synopsis: On the Western Front in 1918, during what was to have been the "war to end all wars" three people meet at an Allied camp near Amiens. ![]() ![]() ![]() The story was great regardless, but the story definitely focuses more on the history of possible magic, and less so on the modern-day incarnations. While this story describes the Dalloway Five and the presence of witches, I should note that this book isn’t as full of magic as the synopsis might imply. The last quarter of the book was especially addicting, so much so that I had to delay my current plans so I could know the ending. Not only did I find myself wanting to stay up to find out what happened next, but I also found myself reaching for the book first thing in the morning – and as someone who seldom reads this early, this says a lot. Not only that, but A Lesson in Vengeance had me hooked all the way through. It became a hauntingly comfortable escape to immerse myself in this story. From page one this book delivers just the right amount of unsettled feelings at the right time, combined with the cozy atmosphere of books, candles, records, and overall a place seemingly free of modern technology. But so much of that love for me comes from the setting and the writing, which Lee did an incredible job of portraying. Lee’s writing was mesmerizing, the setting was absolutely atmospheric, and I just could not put this book down.Īfter reading this book, I find myself wanting to look for more dark academia books to read. ![]() I’ve been eyeing A Lesson in Vengeance since I first found out about it in anticipated lists and I’m so glad I finally read it. ![]() ![]() ![]() And now he’s determined to retrieve it all-ship, friends, the treasure he was forced to abandon. He’s lost everything, his ship, his crew, his very identity. Captain Raine wants it all back … His sentence having been commuted at the last minute, Christopher spent the last four years working for his freedom as he crisscrossed the world. ![]() Or was he? Honoria couldn’t possibly have seen him come back to life in the rather thick air of Covent Garden, could she? Christopher is long dead and gone, Honoria’s secret with him, and now she’s betrothed to a respectable English gentleman. She grants it, and Christopher is taken out to be hanged. Four years ago, the notorious pirate Christopher Raine, arrested for stealing a ship full of gold bound for Napoleon, makes one last request of Honoria. ![]() A Pirate’s Return from the Grave … Honoria Ardmore has a secret. ![]() ![]() ![]() A fully illustrated volume of the classic Christina Rossetti poem, Goblin Market, which resonates still today, and is the most beautiful book for any poetry lover. ![]() The book includes an introduction to the poem by novelist Kirsty Gunn, so all readers - for pleasure or study - can understand its riches. All of these themes are encapsulated in Goblin Market. Christina Rossetti is considered the foremost female poet of her time, and her poetry still resonates with women's lives today, as she entwines themes of sexuality, sisterhood, love and temptation in her work. This illustrated version brings the words and story alive for a new generation. The poem has fascinated for generations and been the subject of various interpretations. It tells the tale of the two sisters drifting apart as Laura succumbs to the forbidden fruit sold by the goblins, but the bonds of sisterhood prove strong. The stunning illustrations illuminate and drive the narrative forward as in all good story books. Breathing new life into the Victorian tradition of illustrated poems, this book reads like a picture story book. In this fully illustrated and beautiful volume, illustrator Georgie McAusland brings the words and story to life. The classic poem, Goblin Market (1862) by Christina Rossetti, tells the story of Lizzie and Laura, who are tempted by the fruit sold by the goblin merchants. The first in a new illustrated poetry series. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Other nonfiction books by Aliki include How a Book Is Made, Mummies Made in Egypt, My Visit to the Aquarium, My Visit to the Dinosaurs, My Visit to the Zoo, Wild and Woolly Mammoths, and William Shakespeare & the Globe. Born in New Jersey, she now lives in New York City.Īliki's books for young readers include the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out titles Digging Up Dinosaurs, Fossils Tell of Long Ago, My Feet, and My Hands. With more than 60 fiction and nonfiction titles for children to her credit, Aliki has been delighting her many fans since her first book was published in 1960. The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported. ![]() |