Three friends go against their parents' wishes and enter the old house that's been sitting abandoned on the edge of town for over a hundred years, and quickly realize getting back out isn't simply a matter of turning around.
HOUSE OF A HUNDRED ROOMS:Stories the ghost tour guides do not tellbyKEITH J. SCALES Tour Manager At the Most Haunted Hotel in America. Location: the 1886 Crescent Hotel. Characters: ghosts. At the highest point in the Ozark mountains, overlooking a village clustered around a legendary healing spring, towers the famous 1886 Crescent Hotel - long recognized as "the most haunted hotel in America." The legends of the Lady in White, the Girl in the Mist, the flirtatious Irish stonemason, the unfortunate victims of a charming medical psychopath, little Breckie with his bouncing ball, the little girl who fell through the railings have been repeated for decades, along with many other stories, and are currently told nightly on the Crescent ghost tours. A different kind of ghost story collection. Long-time tour manager Keith J. Scales presents a collection of stories that are not told on the ghost tours and have no basis in fact - invented events that might have occurred when these fascinating individuals were alive, or after they moved on. * A young worker who died during the construction of the Crescent Hotel turns up at Crescent College and Conservatory for Women, thirty years later. * A gangster in fear of his life has been hiding out in the hotel since prohibition. * A student died in a fall from an upper balcony - was it an accident, was she pushed, or did something else occur? * A murdered politician sends a newspaperman to the underground city to find his body. * A woman's arm appears through a wall in an later decade. * A despicable genius, making his fortune from the misfortunes of others, has reasons to distrust those closest to him. * A secret has kept a man waiting for his beloved for a hundred years. * Two lost children make a home in a huge empty building that is not as deserted as it appears. These stories and others are told at various stops on a ghost tour being given by a weary and somewhat skeptical guide. His guests are unruly, his colleagues seem to vanish one by one and the tour grows more bizarre with every stop on the way. By the end of the night, the stories of ghosts, guides and guests have merged into one, and the tour leader's doubts are forever dispelled. Actor, director and playwright Keith J. Scales, current manager of tours at the Crescent and Basin Park hotels, is a lifelong student of supernatural legend, lore and literature. In his spare time he has written many novels and short stories, soon to be available on Amazon and Kindle.
The acclaimed author of The Borrower returns with a dazzlingly original, mordantly witty novel about the secrets of an old-money family and their turn-of-the-century estate, Laurelfield. “Rebecca Makkai is a writer to watch, as sneakily ambitious as she is unpretentious." –Richard Russo Meet the Devohrs: Zee, a Marxist literary scholar who detests her parents’ wealth but nevertheless finds herself living in their carriage house; Gracie, her mother, who claims she can tell your lot in life by looking at your teeth; and Bruce, her step-father, stockpiling supplies for the Y2K apocalypse and perpetually late for his tee time. Then there’s Violet Devohr, Zee’s great-grandmother, who they say took her own life somewhere in the vast house, and whose massive oil portrait still hangs in the dining room. Violet’s portrait was known to terrify the artists who resided at the house from the 1920s to the 1950s, when it served as the Laurelfield Arts Colony—and this is exactly the period Zee’s husband, Doug, is interested in. An out-of-work academic whose only hope of a future position is securing a book deal, Doug is stalled on his biography of the poet Edwin Parfitt, once in residence at the colony. All he needs to get the book back on track—besides some motivation and self-esteem—is access to the colony records, rotting away in the attic for decades. But when Doug begins to poke around where he shouldn’t, he finds Gracie guards the files with a strange ferocity, raising questions about what she might be hiding. The secrets of the hundred-year house would turn everything Doug and Zee think they know about her family on its head—that is, if they were to ever uncover them. In this brilliantly conceived, ambitious, and deeply rewarding novel, Rebecca Makkai unfolds a generational saga in reverse, leading the reader back in time on a literary scavenger hunt as we seek to uncover the truth about these strange people and this mysterious house. With intelligence and humor, a daring narrative approach, and a lovingly satirical voice, Rebecca Makkai has crafted an unforgettable novel about family, fate and the incredible surprises life can offer. For readers of Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle
Respected author and designer Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill’s newest book inspires us to incorporate time-tested design principles into modern living. A noted authority on period homes and historic styles, Henrietta Spencer-Churchill celebrates the life of great rooms over the years and the evolution of their architectural features and interior decoration. Featuring a stunning selection of historic homes in both England and the United States, The Life of the House reveals the best of architectural and furnishing details from the last three hundred years, with ideas on updating these spaces for modern times. The book is organized by room, including the living room, from formal reception rooms to the modern-day family room; the library, once a gentleman’s retreat and now often a home office or den; the dining room, once a formal status symbol, now frequently a casual open-plan room; and the kitchen, once a servants’ area, now a multifunctional family space. Chapters on creative modern uses of such traditional rooms as ballrooms and conservatories are also included. With photographs of exquisite interiors from every important historical period and Spencer-Churchill’s fascinating text revealing life behind the scenes in these houses, this book is filled with creative ideas on incorporating traditional style into contemporary settings.
Enter the world of Geronimo Stilton, where another funny adventure is always right around the corner. Each book is a fast-paced adventure with lively art and a unique format kids 7-10 will love. Enter the world of Geronimo Stilton, where another funny adventure is always right around the corner. Each book is a fast-paced adventure with lively art and a unique format kids 7-10 will love.Who Is Geronimo Stilton?That's me! I run a newspaper, but my true passion is writing tales of adventure. Here on Mouse Island, my books are all best-sellers! What's that? You've never read one? Well, my books are full of fun. They are whisker-licking good stories, and that's a promise!The Case of Curlypaw Cannycat's CastleI was lost in a dark, spooky forest! Until I stumbled upon Curlypaw Cannycat's Castle. The castle was completely empty, or so I thought. But I quickly discovered that it was haunted - by cats! Let me tell you, this was one case where curiosity almost killed the mouse!
'God, it's good' STEPHEN KING On a windswept moor, an old house guards its secrets... The new standalone horror novel from 'a true master of horror.' All Hallows Hall is a rambling Tudor mansion on the edge of the bleak and misty Dartmoor. It is not a place many would choose to live. Yet the former Governer of Dartmoor Prison did just that. Now he's dead, and his children – long estranged – are set to inherit his estate. But when the dead man's family come to stay, the atmosphere of the moors seems to drift into every room. Floorboards creak, secret passageways echo, and wind whistles in the house's famous priest hole. And then, on the same morning the family decide to leave All Hallows Hall and never come back, their young son Timmy disappears – from inside the house. Does evil linger in the walls? Or is evil only ever found inside the minds of men? Praise for Graham Masterton: 'A true master of horror' James Herbert 'One of the most original and frightening storytellers of our time' Peter James 'A natural storyteller with a unique gift for turning the mundane into the terrifyingly real' New York Journal of Books 'This is a first-class thriller with some juicy horror touches. Mystery readers who don't know the Maguire novels should change that right now' Booklist 'One of Britain's finest horror writers' Daily Mail
"Kamal Salibi is the foremost living historian of Lebanon, and his new book is even more important than his earlier one because it throws light on the present and future of the country as well as its past."—Albert Hourani, author of A History of the Arab Peoples "Among Lebanese historians only Kamal Salibi has the credibility to write such a book. Its timely appearance signals a new era in Lebanese history. It will undoubtedly become a classic."—Nadim Shehadi, Director, the Centre for Lebanese Studies, Oxford
Now a Netflix Feature Film! “A heart-pounding page-turner with an outstanding cast of characters, a deliciously creepy setting, and an absolutely merciless body count.” –Courtney Summers, New York Times bestselling author of Sadie and The Project A New York Times bestseller It’s been almost a year since Makani Young came to live with her grandmother and she’s still adjusting to her new life in rural Nebraska. Then, one by one, students at her high school begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the body count rises and the terror grows closer, can Makani survive the killer’s twisted plan?
From the bestselling author of The Garden of Lost Secrets comes a thrilling new mystery filled with ticking secrets and gripping adventure, set against an Edwardian backdrop of invention and change. JUNE, 1905. Helena and her parrot, Orbit, are swept off to Cambridge when her father is appointed clock-winder to one of the wealthiest men in England. There is only one rule: the clocks must never stop. Soon Helena discovers the house of one hundred clocks holds many mysteries; a ghostly figure, strange notes and stolen winding keys... Can she work out the house's secrets before time runs out? "Howell is a hypnotically readable writer, who keeps the pulse racing, while allowing every character slowly to unravel." The Telegraph "Fans of Emma Carroll will adore this historical tale of derring-do and righted wrongs." The Times on The Garden of Lost Secrets
Almost everybody who has grown up in Chicago knows about the Thorne Rooms. Housed in the Children’s Galleries of the Chicago Art Institute, they are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930s by Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Each of the 68 rooms is designed in the style of a different historic period, and every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks. Some might even say, the rooms are magic. Imagine—what if you discovered a key that allowed you to shrink so that you were small enough to sneak inside and explore the rooms’ secrets? What if you discovered that others had done so before you? And that someone had left something important behind? Fans of Chasing Vermeer, The Doll People, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler will be swept up in the magic of this exciting art adventure!