The Song of the Magpie

The Song of the Magpie

Author: Louise Mayberry

Publisher: Louise Mayberry

Published: 2024-09-26

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13:

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A tale of resilience and redemption. Caitlin Blackwell’s life has been shaped by the whims of men—the cruel landlord who evicted her family when she was a child; the dirty grinders who bought her favors in the alleyways of Cork; and the uncaring husband who was forced upon her when she arrived as a convict in Australia twenty years ago. But at last, she’s a widow. She’s inherited a farm of her own, and she’s determined to seize control of her destiny. There’s only one thing stopping her from becoming the prosperous, independent woman she’s always dreamed she could be: she’s illiterate. Enter Michael Dunn, a man haunted with guilt. After six months of hell and hard labor at Moreton Bay penal colony—for a crime he should have known better than to commit—he’s more than haunted. He’s broken. Empty. A shell of a man. But somehow, he’s given another chance. A glimmer of hope in an unexpected assignment to teach an Irish widow to read. As Caitlin and Michael’s new life blooms amidst the vast Australian landscape, they uncover a secret that threatens to snatch away everything they hold dear. Can they face the demons of their pasts and embrace an uncertain future? “...one of the best redemption stories I've ever read. I loved it.” - Reader review The Song of the Magpie is the fourth and final book in the Darnalay Castle Series, although all of the books in the series can be read as standalones. For fans of Ellie Sinclair, Bree Wolf and Julia Brannan this novel is the perfect mixture of realistic history and heart-wrenching romance. It contains themes which may be disturbing to some readers (see the author’s note in the sample pages), and several spicy open-door scenes.


Magpie's Song

Magpie's Song

Author: Allison Pang

Publisher: Ironheart Chronicles

Published: 2022-02

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9781954255296

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In the slums of BrightStone, Moon Children are worth less than the scrap they collect to survive. It doesn't matter that these abandoned half-breeds are part-Meridian with their ancestors hailing from the technologically advanced wonder that floats above the once-thriving, now plague-ridden city. Instead they are rejected by both societies and forced to live on the outskirts of civilization, joining clans simply to stay alive. Not to mention their role as Tithe, leading the city's infected citizens deep into the Pits where their disease can be controlled. Nineteen-year-old Raggy Maggy is no different, despite the mysterious heart-shaped panel welded to her chest. Or she wasn't, until her chance discovery of a Meridian-built clockwork dragon--and its murdered owner. When the Inquestors policing the city find Maggy at the scene of the crime, she becomes their prime suspect. An exiled doctor and a clanless Moon Child named Ghost keep her hidden; all she has to do is help them find a cure to the plague they believe was not accidental. Doing so might risk more than her life--but it might be the key to uncovering the truth about the parents, and the past, she knows nothing about.


The Song of the Magpie Robin

The Song of the Magpie Robin

Author: Zafar Futehally

Publisher: Rupa Publications India

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 9788129134684

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Birder, naturalist and writer, Zafar Futehally was born in 1920 into a business family of Bombay. He grew up in Andheri, then one of the greenest areas of the city and went on to join the family trade. However, it was with Salim Ali, the famed ornithologist also known as the 'Birdman of India', that Zafar found his true calling. Zafar accompanied Salim Ali on his expeditions and helped him ring birds, collect specimens and take notes. On these field trips, he came in contact with some of the world's foremost naturalists and conservationists Dillon Ripley, Loke Wan Tho, Richard Fitter and Sir Peter Scott amongst others. These associations helped Zafar develop a nuanced, farranging understanding of ornithology as well as of the natural world. This, together with his diplomatic skills, made him a vital consensusbuilder on matters relating to conservation. Zafar Futehally spearheaded the conservation movement in India and played a key role in transforming it from a fringe concern of the middleclass to a matter of national importance. Zafar held key posts in all the important conservation organizations and initiatives in India and abroad BNHS, IUCN, WWF - India and Project Tiger. Witty, humble and deeply thoughtful, The Song of the Magpie Robin is a vibrant portrait of a man of principle, who spent his entire life striving to find a balance between development and nature conservation.


Australian Magpie

Australian Magpie

Author: Gisela T. Kaplan

Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 9780643090682

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Brings together everything we know about the biology and behaviour of this unusual species.


The Magpie Song

The Magpie Song

Author: Laurence Anholt

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 42

ISBN-13:

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Carla, who lives with her family in the city, shares a close relationship with her grandad in the country through their correspondence.


Mad Magpie

Mad Magpie

Author: Gregg Dreise

Publisher: Magabala Books

Published: 2016-05-01

Total Pages: 35

ISBN-13: 1925360083

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Age range 3 to 6 Mad Magpie is the third book in this successful series of morality tales from Gregg Dreise. Inspired by wise sayings and the knowledge of his Elders, Mad Magpie tells the story of Guluu, an angry magpie who is being teased by a gang of butcher birds. The more he is teased, the angrier he becomes. When Guluu seeks advice, his Elders tell him to stay calm like the river, ignore the butcher birds and to be strong on the inside. Guluu tries this, but the cheeky birds just laugh at him. One day, when Guluu is at the river looking for worms, the butcher birds arrive and steal his food. He remembers the words of his Elders and he tries again – and this time Guluu has a different outcome. He stands proudly at the riverbank and remembers how he used to sing when he was having a bad day. Guluu sings so loud he cannot hear the birds laughing at him and they eventually give up and fly away. From that time on, the animals learnt to use music to create a happy mood and they worked together to stop bullying.


Featherhood

Featherhood

Author: Charlie Gilmour

Publisher: Scribner

Published: 2021-01-05

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1501198505

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“I loved every single page.” —Elton John “The best piece of nature writing since H is for Hawk.” —Neil Gaiman ​In this moving, critically acclaimed memoir, a young man saves a baby magpie as his estranged father is dying, only to find that caring for the mischievous bird saves him. One spring day, a baby magpie falls out of its nest and into Charlie Gilmour’s hands. Magpies, he soon discovers, are as clever and mischievous as monkeys. They are also notorious thieves, and this one quickly steals his heart. By the time the creature develops shiny black feathers that inspire the name Benzene, Charlie and the bird have forged an unbreakable bond. While caring for Benzene, Charlie learns his biological father, an eccentric British poet named Heathcote Williams who vanished when Charlie was six months old, is ill. As he grapples with Heathcote’s abandonment, Charlie comes across one of his poems, in which Heathcote describes how an impish young jackdaw fell from its nest and captured his affection. Over time, Benzene helps Charlie unravel his fears about repeating the past—and embrace the role of father himself. A bird falls, a father dies, a child is born. Featherhood is the unforgettable story of a love affair between a man and a bird. It is also a beautiful and affecting memoir about childhood and parenthood, captivity and freedom, grief and love.


How to Know the Birds

How to Know the Birds

Author: Ted Floyd

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1426220030

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"In this elegant narrative, celebrated naturalist Ted Floyd guides you through a year of becoming a better birder. Choosing 200 top avian species to teach key lessons, Floyd introduces a new, holistic approach to bird watching and shows how to use the tools of the 21st century to appreciate the natural world we inhabit together whether city, country or suburbs." -- From book jacket.


Love is Strong as Death

Love is Strong as Death

Author: Paul Kelly

Publisher: Penguin Group Australia

Published: 2019-11-19

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1760144959

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Paul Kelly’s songs are steeped in poetry. And now he has gathered from around the world the poems he loves – poems that have inspired and challenged him over the years, a number of which he has set to music. This wide-ranging and deeply moving anthology combines the ancient and the modern, the hallowed and the profane, the famous and the little known, to speak to two of literature’s great themes that have proven so powerful in his music: love and death – plus everything in between. Here are poems by Yehuda Amichai, W.H. Auden, Tusiata Avia, Hera Lindsay Bird, William Blake, Bertolt Brecht, Constantine Cavafy, Alison Croggon, Mahmoud Darwish, Emily Dickinson, John Donne, Ali Cobby Eckermann, James Fenton, Thomas Hardy, Kevin Hart, Gwen Harwood, Seamus Heaney, Philip Hodgins, Homer, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Langston Hughes, John Keats, Ono No Komachi, Maxine Kumin, Philip Larkin, Li-Young Lee, Norman MacCaig, Paula Meehan, Czeslaw Milosz, Les Murray, Pablo Neruda, Sharon Olds, Ovid, Sylvia Plath, Dorothy Porter, Rumi, Anne Sexton, William Shakespeare, Izumi Shikibu, Warsan Shire, Kenneth Slessor, Wislawa Szymborska, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Ko Un, Walt Whitman, Judith Wright, W.B. Yeats and many more.


A Wolf at the Table

A Wolf at the Table

Author: Augusten Burroughs

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Published: 2008-04-29

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1429937653

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"As a little boy, I had a dream that my father had taken me to the woods where there was a dead body. He buried it and told me I must never tell. It was the only thing we'd ever done together as father and son, and I promised not to tell. But unlike most dreams, the memory of this one never left me. And sometimes...I wasn't altogether sure about one thing: was it just a dream?" When Augusten Burroughs was small, his father was a shadowy presence in his life: a form on the stairs, a cough from the basement, a silent figure smoking a cigarette in the dark. As Augusten grew older, something sinister within his father began to unfurl. Something dark and secretive that could not be named. Betrayal after shocking betrayal ensued, and Augusten's childhood was over. The kind of father he wanted didn't exist for him. This father was distant, aloof, uninterested... And then the "games" began. With A Wolf at the Table, Augusten Burroughs makes a quantum leap into untapped emotional terrain: the radical pendulum swing between love and hate, the unspeakably terrifying relationship between father and son. Told with scorching honesty and penetrating insight, it is a story for anyone who has ever longed for unconditional love from a parent. Though harrowing and brutal, A Wolf at the Table will ultimately leave you buoyed with the profound joy of simply being alive. It's a memoir of stunning psychological cruelty and the redemptive power of hope.