Gavin, rector of St Barnabas Without, runs his parish on determinedly trendy lines, concentrating on gays, 'bondage freaks', mackintosh fetishists etc. His bishop also thinks along modern lines. The arrival of a new, somewhat strange curate causes a series of true miracles. The bishop is about to announce a return to the old ways when a natural explanation of the miracles is discovered.
In the dead of night, a man climbs the tower of St. Anthony's Church, driven by a compulsive urge to silence the bells. In a deserted alley, a random victim is consumed by a torrent of flames. And in the light of day, a man named Walt Stebbins receives a glass jar containing the preserved body of a bluebird. As Walt unravels the mystery of the bird in a jar, he will learn that the battle between good and evil is raging every day, where you would least expect it.
Millions of Christians have struggled with how to reconcile God's love and God's judgment: Has God created billions of people over thousands of years only to select a few to go to heaven and everyone else to suffer forever in hell? Is this acceptable to God? How is this "good news"? Troubling questions—so troubling that many have lost their faith because of them. Others only whisper the questions to themselves, fearing or being taught that they might lose their faith and their church if they ask them out loud. But what if these questions trouble us for good reason? What if the story of heaven and hell we have been taught is not, in fact, what the Bible teaches? What if what Jesus meant by heaven, hell, and salvation are very different from how we have come to understand them? What if it is God who wants us to face these questions? Author, pastor, and innovative teacher Rob Bell presents a deeply biblical vision for rediscovering a richer, grander, truer, and more spiritually satisfying way of understanding heaven, hell, God, Jesus, salvation, and repentance. The result is the discovery that the "good news" is much, much better than we ever imagined. Love wins.
Welcome to the pit where the danger is never ending, the sea monsters are multiplying, and Lucifer is planning the wedding from Hell. Big deal, so he kept losing the oar. It wasn’t Adexios fault the Styx monsters were working against him, but tell that to his dad. Charon is determined to make a man out of him—whether his mother likes it or not—and Lucifer has offered to help. Help means sending Adexios in to the wilds of Hell with an Amazon warrior as his companion. The savage fighter doesn’t know what to think of her geeky partner. Adexios attracts Valaska with his brains instead of brawn. He also shows a cunning courage she can’t help but respect. They’ll need all the skills they can muster, though, if they’re going to prevail against the newest threat to Hell. With the wilds submerged by seawater, and monsters hungry for flesh, they’ll have to fight to stay alive, and learn opposites not only attract, they explode. (With passion, not guts, in case that wasn’t clear.) Welcome to Hell series: A Demon and His Witch, Date With Death, A Demon and Her Scot, Hell's Kitty, Hell's Geek, Hell's Bells Other Hell books: Last Minion Standing (stand alone) Princess of Hell series: Lucifer's Daughter, Snowballs in Hell, Hell's Revenge , Vacation Hell Genre: paranormal romance, fantasy romance, gothic romance, romantic comedy, alpha male, romantic adventure, urban fantasy, vampires, shapeshifters, demons, witches, geek hero
The Bells of Hell - based on true stories, this tells of the lives of men and women who lived through the horrors of WW2 in the Pacific. It tells of life in the Pacific Rim - The Ring of Fire. Violent lands ruled by ruthless, violent men. It tells of political intrigue, deceit and betrayal. It tells of courageous men and women who emerge from the coalmines and universities searching for escape from the rigours of virtual slavery.
Written as a confessional letter to his son, an 18th century opera singer recounts how his gift for sound led him on an astonishing journey to Europe’s celebrated opera houses and reveals how he came to raise a son who by all rights he never could have sired. The celebrated opera singer Lo Svizzero was born in a belfry high in the Swiss Alps where his mother served as the keeper of the loudest and most beautiful bells in the land. Shaped by the bells’ glorious music, he possessed an extraordinary gift for sound. But when his preternatural hearing was discovered—along with its power to expose the sins of the church—young Moses Froben was cast out of his village with only his ears to guide him in a world fraught with danger. Rescued from certain death by two traveling monks, he finds refuge at the vast and powerful Abbey of St. Gall. There, he becomes the protégé of the Abbey’s brilliant yet repulsive choirmaster, Ulrich. But it is this gift that will cause Moses’ greatest misfortune: determined to preserve his brilliant pupil’s voice, Ulrich has Moses castrated. Now, he will forever sing with the exquisite voice of an angel—a musico—yet castration is an abomination in the Swiss Confederation, and so he must hide his shameful condition from his friends and even from the girl he has come to love. When his saviors are exiled and his beloved leaves St. Gall for an arranged marriage in Vienna, he decides he can deny the truth no longer and he follows her—to sumptuous Vienna, to the former monks who saved his life, to an apprenticeship at one of Europe’s greatest theaters, and to the premiere of one of history’s most beloved operas. Like the voice of Lo Svizzero, The Bells is a sublime debut novel that rings with passion, courage, and beauty.
Widowed Mary Bolton, like Miss Jean Brodie, considers herself in her prime. Not satisfied with car boot sales, dances at the bowling club and reading to the elderly, she throws herself into bellringing with gusto - much to the annoyance of her neighbours. But when the industrious Mary is found swinging from a bell rope, Jessica Brand - who only days before had threatened to strangle Mary with the very same rope - fears she will be accused. There's nothing left to do but call in private detective Agatha Raisin to untangle the web of sex, money, deceit ... and murder.
