Emma has never been to a circus, so she is especially excited to see a circus parade in town. But her father says she can't go and see it—they have to get their farm ready for winter. So instead...the circus comes to her! This playful, imaginative tale from Candace Fleming will have readers smiling and joining in the fun of Emma's amazing circus. A Margaret Ferguson Book
The first woman in America to own and operate a circus, Agnes Lake spent thirty years under the Big Top before becoming the wife of Wild Bill Hickok—a mere five months before he was killed. Although books abound on the famous lawman, Agnes’s life has remained obscured by circus myth and legend. Linda A. Fisher and Carrie Bowers have written the first biography of this colorful but little-known circus performer. Agnes originally found fame as a slack-wire walker and horseback rider, and later as an animal trainer. Her circus career spanned more than four decades. Following the murder of her first husband, Bill Lake, she was the sole manager of the “Hippo-Olympiad and Mammoth Circus.” While taking her show to Abilene, she met town marshal Hickok and five years later she married him. After Hickok’s death, Agnes traveled with P. T. Barnum and Buffalo Bill Cody, and managed her daughter Emma Lake’s successful equestrian career. This account of a remarkable life cuts through fictions about Agnes’s life, including her own embellishments, to uncover her true story. Numerous illustrations, including rare photographs and circus memorabilia, bring Agnes’s world to life.
In 1851, fourteen-year-old orphan Ann McMath was sent to live with her uncle and his family in their parsonage in Horseheads, New York. Lonely and full of self doubt, anxious to establish female friendships in a new place, and questing for intellectual and moral perfection, she began keeping journal when she was seventeen and wrote in it regularly for the next five years, until she was married. A fascinating example of "biography from below," McMath's journal offers a rare glimpse of of life in the 1850s as it was lived by ordinary women, told in the authentic voice of a young woman coming of age in the Burned-Over District of Western New York. In addition to the journal itself, the book includes an introduction by editor C. Stewart Doty, as well as a geneaology, notes on the text, and a section entitled "People in the Life of Ann McMath," which gives brief biographies of everyone mentioned in the journal.
This volume is the only biography of the life associate of the great evangelist, D. L. Moody. The sweet strength of Mrs. Moody’s life is portrayed here by her granddaughter, whose access to letters and records of family and intimate friends gives the book its human interest. This book reveals Mrs. Moody’s share in the destiny of her era, describing a period that “belongs to any history of the social and religious life of the Western world.”
From the “intrepid, challenge-taking writer” of The Kashmir Shawl “comes this story of sisterly rifts and betrayal” (Good Housekeeping). “Introspective and descriptive writing carry along . . . Thomas’ examination of a woman searching for her place in the world. Music writer Constance Thorne is living a seemingly idyllic life in Bali. But paradise can’t completely insulate her from the world. She is called back to London to be with her dying sister, Jeanette, a journey that is challenging in many ways. Years before, Constance fell in love with her sister’s husband and ended up not only heartbroken but also estranged from the family. Because she was a foundling and raised by adoptive parents, the rejection hit her very hard. Her solution—to flee to Bali—has anchored her until now. Following Constance from lush Bali back to noisy London, the story line also meanders around Jeanette’s son, Noah, and his girlfriend, Roxana, who is from Uzbekistan and does her own soul-searching.” —Booklist “A terrific book, beautifully written . . . Questions about identity, belonging, infidelity, dying and forgiveness make this a very moving study of the human heart.” —Australian Women’s Weekly “Heart-rending and beautifully written . . . You can’t fail to be moved.” —Daily Express “Prepare to be dazzled . . . An epic tale of sisterhood and betrayal.” —Company “Thomas’ second novel maps out a resonating, touching story that most readers are unlikely to forget . . . An addictive, well-written masterpiece featuring lovely and original characters.” —Romantic Times
