Hoping to give him a better start in life, Peredur's mother takes him from the estates. But when local kids cycle into his life he heads off after them, accompained by the notion of finding Arthur - an absent, imaginary guardian.. And that's when the trouble really starts. The original Peredur fights for recognition in Arthur's court. Cynan Jones turns this into a modern Quixotian romp.
BOY Novak turns twenty and decides to try for a brand-new life. Flax Hill, Massachusetts, isn't exactly a welcoming town, but it does have the virtue of being the last stop on the bus route she took from New York. Flax Hill is also the hometown of Arturo Whitman - craftsman, widower, and father of Snow. SNOW is mild-mannered, radiant and deeply cherished - exactly the sort of little girl Boy never was, and Boy is utterly beguiled by her. If Snow displays a certain inscrutability at times, that's simply a characteristic she shares with her father, harmless until Boy gives birth to Snow's sister, Bird. When BIRD is born Boy is forced to re-evaluate the image Arturo's family have presented to her, and Boy, Snow and Bird are broken apart.
"Jones's sense of place is acute, and his passion for the landscape—for its colors, its creatures, its textures, its scents—is absolutely magnetic."—Sarah Waters "A dark, tense, and vital short novel. . . . Profound, powerful, and utterly absorbing."—The Guardian "It is a book about the essentials: life and death, cruelty and compassion. It is a book that will get in your bones, and haunt you."—Daily Telegraph "Cynan Jones's fourth novel, The Dig, is an extraordinarily powerful work—not in spite of its brevity but because of it. . . . In its marriage of profound lyricism and feeling for place, deep human compassion and unflinching savagery, this brief and beautiful novel is utterly unique."—Financial Times Built of the interlocking fates of a badger-baiter and a farmer struggling through lambing season, The Dig unfolds in a stark rural setting where man, animal, and land are at loggerheads. There is no bucolic pastoral here: this is pure, pared-down rural realism, crackling with compressed energy, from a writer of uncommon gifts. Cynan Jones was born near Aberaeron, Wales, in 1975. He is the author of three novels, The Long Dry (winner of a Betty Trask Award, 2007), Everything I Found on the Beach (2011), and The Dig (2014), winner of the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. He is also the author of Bird, Blood, Snow (2012), the retelling of a medieval Welsh myth. The Dig is his first novel published in the United States.
Forest animals help an injured nightingale survive the winter in a comforting story of friendship and resilience, lyrically told and gorgeously illustrated. As the days grow shorter and the air becomes colder, the spring birds fly south for winter—all except for a nightingale with a broken wing. Unable to fly, the nightingale worries about how to prepare for weather it’s never had to experience before. Luckily, the forest animals who are used to frosty conditions help the nightingale navigate the cold as its wing heals. Though the unfamiliar season proves challenging, and even a little scary at times, the nightingale discovers there’s beauty to be found in even the harshest weather—and with that comes newfound gratitude for the return of spring. Kate Banks weaves a story of perseverance and kindness, brought beautifully to life by Suzie Mason’s stunning artwork.
Winner of the 2018 Caldecott Medal A girl is lost in a snowstorm. A wolf cub is lost, too. How will they find their way home? Paintings rich with feeling tell this satisfying story of friendship and trust. Wolf in the Snow is a book set on a wintry night that will spark imaginations and warm hearts, from Matthew Cordell, author of Trouble Gum and Another Brother.
Fairy tales retold—with a twist—from “some of our best storytellers” including Neil Gaiman, Gahan Wilson, Tanith Lee, and others (The Washington Post). In this “no holds barred . . . nightmarish . . . provocative” collection, bestselling and award-winning fantasy masters put a dark, disturbing, and erotic spin on your favorite bedtime stories—and give you something entirely new to trouble your dreams (The New York Times Book Review). A boy is haunted through adulthood by a soul-eating creature that lies forever in wait under Neil Gaiman’s “Troll Bridge”; a melancholy amphibian shares his most private fantasies with a therapist in Gahan Wilson’s “The Frog Prince”; in Tanith Lee’s “Snow-Drop,” a lonely artist invites seven circus performers into her home to satisfy an obsession; in Steve Rasnic Tem’s “Little Poucet,” a band of lost brothers find refuge and terror with a hungry family in the woods; and Wendy Wheeler delves into the deviant psyche of the predatory male in “Little Red.” Also featuring Nancy Kress, Charles de Lint, Melanie Tem, Patricia A. McKillip, Jack Dann, and others, all paying a revisit to our favorite fairy tales in ways you’ve never dared to imagine.
A powerful climate crisis story about love and loss that offers a glimpse of a tangible future in which water is commodified and vulnerable to sabotage that is "close to perfect," "imaginative and far reaching," and "very human and deadly serious" (The Guardian). Water is commodified. The Water Train that serves the city increasingly at risk of sabotage. As news breaks that construction of a gigantic Ice Dock will displace more people than first thought, protestors take to the streets and the lives of several individuals begin to interlock. A nurse on the brink of an affair. A boy who follows a stray dog out of the city. A woman who lies dying. And her husband, a marksman: a man forged by his past and fearful of the future, who weighs in his hands the possibility of death against the possibility of life. From one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, Stillicide is a moving story of love and loss and the will to survive, and a powerful glimpse of the tangible future.
Unique encounters with wild birds from the acclaimed scientist and “a dedicated watcher happy to knock down the fourth wall of zoology” (The Wall Street Journal). In his modern classics One Man’s Owl and Mind of the Raven, Bernd Heinrich has written memorably about his relationships with wild ravens and a great horned owl. In One Wild Bird at a Time, Heinrich returns to his great love: close, day-to-day observations of individual wild birds. There are countless books on bird behavior, but Heinrich argues that some of the most amazing bird behaviors fall below the radar of what most birds do in aggregate. Heinrich’s “passionate observations [that] superbly mix memoir and science” lead to fascinating questions—and sometimes startling discoveries (The New York Times Book Review). A great crested flycatcher, while bringing food to the young in their nest, is attacked by the other flycatcher nearby. Why? A pair of Northern flickers hammering their nest-hole into the side of Heinrich’s cabin deliver the opportunity to observe the feeding competition between siblings, and to make a related discovery about nest-cleaning. One of a clutch of redstart warbler babies fledges out of the nest from twenty feet above the ground, and lands on the grass below. It can’t fly. What will happen next? Heinrich “looks closely, with his trademark ‘hands-and-knees science’ at its most engaging, [delivering] what can only be called psychological marvels of knowing” (The Boston Globe). “An engaging memoir of the opportunities for doing scientific research without leaving one’s own backyard.”—Kirkus Reviews
'A gripping book full of twists and turns.'Alice Clark-Platts 'Unsettling and beautiful'Allie Reynolds 'Kept me guessing until the very end with a brilliantly clever twist that I really didn’t see coming'Sarah Pearse 'A little gem'GJ Minett Three months into her new role as a psychiatrist at a clinic in New York, Erin Cartwright is asked to evaluate the case of a man who murdered his mother and sisters at the age of seventeen. Found not guilty by reason of insanity and held in a maximum-security psychiatric facility for twenty-seven years, Timothy Stern is now eligible for release. Upon learning the crime occurred in the same village she once visited as a child, Erin is on the verge of refusing to take the case, when a startling discovery triggers memories she’d rather keep hidden, and a suspicion the wrong man is behind bars. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING Lies, secrets and hidden pasts all come into play in this beautiful debut from Ann Gosslin. All in all, this book had me hooked throughout, I enjoyed it so much. monsieurmarple This is a suspenseful, disquieting psychological thriller, which I found very compelling. silverliningsandpages I can imagine it being the setting of a new series, and see Erin getting into more complex investigstions. Great for new readers of psychological thrillers. rhirhireader The writing is great, it doesn't feel like a debut book at all. breathingbooks95 I enjoyed this one. I raced through it and was pretty much gripped from the start. mrsfegfiction The writing is truly exquisite and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. [...]I would love to read more of Gosslin's work. escapetothebookshelf Gosslin creates the perfect level of suspense throughout, I couldn’t have asked for more. nobooksgiven I absolutely loved this book! Loved it! [...] I enjoyed every minute, thrilling and captivating. lostinherbookland Crikey, #theshadowbird the debut novel from Ann Gosslin really got under my skin. This is a captivating, emotional thriller that I couldn’t stop thinking about. It made me cry, gave me hope and I couldn’t put down with all its twists and turns. noveldelights Full of twists and turns The Shadow Bird is a brilliantly written psychological suspense book that has been thoroughly researched and paced perfectly [...] This is an intense and gripping debut and I cannot wait to read what Ann Gosslin writes next! oncemorewithreading As the pieces start to add up I though I could see where this story was head but wow it had some amazing twists that left me reeling! booksandemma It is almost impossible to believe that THE SHADOW BIRD is author Ann Gosslin’s first novel. This psychological thriller is sure to gain instant fans [...] 5 OUT OF 5 STARS. amiesbookreviews There were so many secrets, so much hidden in The Shadow Bird that it was impossible to put the novel down [...] It was dark, and unsettling, but with chunks of light that provided that perfect balance. A brilliant debut. amandaduncan12
