Jews are typically viewed as urban dwellers. However there was a considerable Jewish presence in villages from the very beginning of their settlement in Eastern Europe in the 12th century, up until the Holocaust. The presence of a large Jewish population in villages was, in fact, one of the most distinctive features of East European Jewry. The colourful personality of Jewish leaseholders of the production and sale of alcoholic beverages was often depicted in Polish, Russian and Jewish literature of the 19th century, but the real knowledge about the East European rural Jews beyond the stereotypical view is still at large. The book presents the results of a systematic survey, the first of its kind, on the rural Jews in the Minsk Guberniya, from its establishment as a major administrative unit within the Russian Empire in 1793, to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The present study is based mainly on systematic sources, which produced, for the first time, a full picture of Jewish settlement in the countryside in one particular region of the Russian Empire.
***A USA Today Bestselling Book!*** ★★★★★"A beautiful story of brokenness, forgiveness, and second chances."" -- Reviewer If my mother thought that restoring the run down family inn would break me, she was wrong. The hardest part of falling in love with the small town of Magnolia and my grumpy handyman is knowing at some point, I'm going to have to sell the inn and leave. Maggie My ex-husband left me for my best friend. I’m 36, unemployed, and about to be evicted. My only option is to ask my estranged mother for help. She offers me a deal: fix up the run down family inn on the small island of Magnolia and any of the proceeds I can make off the sale, will be mine to invest. Determined to start believing in myself, I roll into town with an unhealthy amount of optimism. The only person who is going to stop me, is me. That is, until I meet my grumpy handyman. He has more walls built up around his heart than the three story inn I’m restoring, but I’m determined to break them down. Even if he’s determined to stop me. Clementine I meant to leave Magnolia at some point in my life. With a full ride scholarship to Juilliard, my dream was to dance. But Dad got sick and I needed to stay to run the local hardware store. Plus, there’s no way I can rely on my older brother, Archer, who can’t outrun the ghosts of his past. When Maggie blows into town, I can’t help but feel inspired by her desire to reinvent herself and when she asks for the local handyman, it becomes the perfect opportunity to provide Archer with purpose and perhaps, a little bit of sunshine. As our friendship grows, I realize just how much I needed a sisterhood. And when I catch Archer smiling, I realize that he needed Maggie as well. I just hope that when the time comes to sell the inn, Maggie fights to stay, because I’m not sure we could handle the heartbreak if she leaves. The Magnolia Inn will capture you from page one. It is a story chock full of friendship, laughter, and swoon-worthy romance. Don’t pass up this wonderful story. Grab your copy TODAY! Keywords: strong heroine, slow burn romance, contemporary romance, romance books, second chance romance, love after loss, womens fiction, clean romance, book series, small town romance, completed series, restoring inn, divorcee, starting over, new move in, grandmother, new friendships, bookclub, broken hero, forgiveness, second chance at love, wholesome romance, sweet romance, middle aged women, women over thirty, single woman fiction, best friends brother
Eleven-year-old Quinn has had some bad experiences lately. She was caught cheating in school, and then one day, her little sister Emma disappeared while walking home from school. She never returned. When Quinn's best friend Kara has to move away, she goes on one last trip with Kara and her family. They stop over at the first hotel they see, a Victorian inn that instantly gives Quinn the creeps, and she begins to notice strange things happening around them. When Kara's parents and then brother disappear without a trace, the girls are stranded in a hotel full of strange guests, hallways that twist back in on themselves, and a particularly nasty surprise lurking beneath the floorboards. Will the girls be able to solve the mystery of what happened to Kara's family before it's too late?
★★★★★ "The ending was just the beginning for these ladies." --Reviewer I have so many walls built up around my heart, and I’m not sure I have the strength to break them down. Welcome to Magnolia Victoria I’m no longer mayor, a sentiment that I’m still trying to get used to saying. After the inauguration of the new mayor, I’m pretty sure that I’ve has reached bottom--until my parents inform me that they are selling their house in Magnolia and I have a week to find a new place to live. Enter Maggie. Even though she poses the job opening as a desperate need for help at the inn, I decide to take it as a temporary job until I can get on my feet. After all, I’m a Holt and Holt's don't need handouts. They also don't need the sexy chef that doesn't seem to want to leave me alone and is breaking down all the walls that I’ve put up. Fiona I know that something is wrong with my mom and the coffee shop. Ever since I moved back to Magnolia with my son, I’ve sensed that something was off. It wasn't until I discovered the eviction notice that I realized just how bad things had gotten. After a pow-wow with the Red Stiletto ladies, Shari convinces me to drive to Nashville in search of my son’s father and the child support he's never sent. Things go from bad to worse once we get there. Dave's not interested in helping and being in the city I once called home is dredging up a ton of old memories. Now I’m worried I don't have the strength to stand my ground and protect my son. Magnolia at Midnight will capture you from page one. It will show you the power of friendship and the strength you have inside. Grab your copy today. Keywords: strong heroine, slow burn romance, contemporary romance, romance books, second chance romance, love after loss, womens fiction, clean romance, book series, small town romance, completed series, restoring inn, divorcee, starting over, new move in, grandmother, new friendships, bookclub, broken hero, forgiveness, second chance at love, wholesome romance, sweet romance, middle aged women, women over thirty, single woman fiction, best friends brother, family saga, family relationships, overcoming obstacles, cinnamon roll heroes
"Sentimental, heartfelt….the exploration of Henry’s changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don’t repeat those injustices."-- Kirkus Reviews “A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today's world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel." -- Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain “Jamie Ford's first novel explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle area during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love. An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut.” -- Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol. This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept. Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago. Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart. BONUS: This edition contains a Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet discussion guide and an excerpt from Jamie Ford's Love and Other Consolation Prizes.
“The first of my father’s illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels.” So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they “dream on” in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Son of the Circus and A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Cracked doesn’t always mean broken. Grieving her mother’s death, Mari Lennox travels to Kyoto, Japan to take photographs of Yanagi Inn for a client. As she explores the inn and its grounds, her camera captures striking images, uncovering layers of mystery shrouding the old resort—including an overgrown, secret garden on a forbidden island. But then eerie weeping no one else in the inn seems to hear starts keeping her awake at night. Despite the warnings of the staff, Mari searches the deep recesses of the old building to discover the source of the ghostly sound, only to realize that her own family’s history is tied to the inn, its mysterious, forlorn garden . . . and the secrets it holds.
HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT Called home to the Amish countryside, city gal Andrea Hampton can’t let go of her bitter memories. But she’ll have to in order to help turn her grandmother’s house into a bed-and-breakfast. When danger stalks her, Andrea must turn to carpenter Cal Burke, a man with his own secrets. BURIED SINS When the youngest Hampton sister, Caroline, returns to Amish country and her family inn, she hides a frightening secret. The dangerous husband she’d secretly married—and supposedly lost—might be alive after all. Yet Police Chief Zach Burkhalter knows more about her past than she expects….
