A woman’s desperation over her long-missing son leads her into dark places: “A stunning, beautifully disturbing mystery.”—Foreword Reviews Five years ago, Susannah Harper’s teenage son Joel went missing without a trace. Bereft of her son, and then abandoned by her husband, Susannah tries to accept that she may never know for certain what has happened to her lost loved ones. But then, on the last night of Hull Fair, a Roma fortune-teller makes an eerie prediction—on Christmas Eve, Joel will finally come back to her. Soon, Susannah is drawn into a world of psychics and charlatans, half-truths and hauntings, friendships and betrayals—forcing her to confront the buried truths of her family’s past… “Parkin is best at dramatizing the tension between the rational and irrational sides of her heroine’s mind.”—Publishers Weekly “Utterly addictive.”—Louise Beech, award-winning author of I Am Dust
From a Kate Greenaway Medal–winning illustrator comes a modern fable of winter’s magic. When Tom wishes winter would never end, he meets another boy who shares his love of snow and ice. Playing together every day, Tom doesn’t care that spring hasn’t come—until he realizes the terrible effect the unending winter is having on his sick grandmother. When he realizes his friend is Winter’s child, he knows they must say good-bye if the seasons are ever to change.
A Retelling of "The Snow Queen" Free-spirited Grace and serious Kai are the best of friends. They grew up together listening to magical tales spun by Kai's grandmother and sharing in each other's secrets. But when they turn sixteen and Kai declares his love for Grace, everything changes. Grace yearns for freedom and slowly begins to push Kai -- and their friendship -- away. Dejected Kai dreams of a dazzling Snow Queen, who entices him to leave home and wander to faraway lands. When Grace discovers Kai is gone, she learns how much she has lost and sets out on a mystical journey to find Kai...and discover herself.
A HEARTWARMING AND UPLIFTING TALE FOR FANS OF CATHERINE COOKSON AND LESLEY PEARSE On the dark, rough streets of London in 1913, can one girl find the courage to open the door to her destiny? Little Rose Webster's life has never been easy. Born in the slums of Bermondsey she has longed to escape her poor upbringing and violent step-father. But it's hard to escape these deprived streets . . . Thankfully she has a quick mind and her insatiable thirst for knowledge means she excels at school - so perhaps she has a chance at a brighter future. But Rose's dreams are shattered when she is forced to leave school and find work, leaving her with nothing to cling to but hope. And as a dark figure from her past threatens further turmoil, this winter's child fears she will never see the spring . . . PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS THE OPEN DOOR Praise for Beryl Matthews: 'A heartwarming and uplifting tale' Daily Express 'Catherine Cookson fans will love this' Woman's Own
Margaret Coel's New York Times bestselling series continues as Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden and Father John O'Malley discover that a centuries-old mystery is tied to a modern-day crime on the Wind River Reservation... In the midst of a blizzard, Myra and Eldon Little Shield found an abandoned baby on their doorstep and brought her inside. Five years later, no one has come back to claim the little girl now known as Mary Anne Little Shield. But now that she's old enough to start school, her foster parents fear social services will take her--a white child--away from them. Determined to adopt Mary Anne, the Little Shields hire lawyer Clint Hopkins, who wants Vicky as cocounsel on the case. But before their meeting can take place, a black truck deliberately runs Hopkins down in the street. Enlisting Father John to help investigate who would kill to stop the child's adoption, Vicky unravels a connection between the five-year-old girl and a missing alcoholic Arapaho wanted for robbery--only to uncover one of the darkest secrets in Wind River's history...
The Winter Children is a haunting mystery from Lulu Taylor, author of A Winter Memory. Behind a selfless act of kindness lies dark intentions . . . Olivia and Dan Felbeck are blissfully happy when their longed-for twins arrive after years of IVF. At the same time, they make the move to Renniston Hall, a huge, Elizabethan house that belongs to absent friends. Living rent-free in a small part of the unmodernised house, once a boarding school, they can begin to enjoy the family life they've always wanted. But there is a secret at the heart of their family, one that Olivia does not yet know. And the house, too, holds its darkness deep within it . . .
Shaped around the writings of Caryll Houselander, "A Child in Winter" is a daybook for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. It serves as a faithful companion as readers watch in Advent and grow large with the presence of God through Christmas and Epiphany. Readers can enter these holy seasons with an increased faith, renewed joy and the promise of transformation and fulfillment.
In this beautiful children's gift book, lyrical poetry pronounces a loving blessing upon Autumn's Child, who is as bright as the changing leaves, playful as the crackling fire, and sweet like purest cinnamon. Adorable watercolor paintings of frosty nights and bundled animals beautifully accompany the book's heartfelt blessings and promises. A sweet, moving tribute to children born during the autumn months, A Blessing for Autumn's Child is a beautiful baby shower or birthday treasure for children young or new.
The war was over, and Jeremy Swanfield’s family were eager to include his young widow in their prosperous, comfortable life. But between the demure bride, who had waved her husband of three days to the front, and the woman with three years of nursing behind her, lay an impassable gulf of experience. Clare Swanfield was fiercely determined to maintain her independence in the post-war world. Taking a job in the smart new hotel run by Kit Hardie – once the Swanfield’s boot-boy, now part of the new elite – was the first of many acts that would bring her into conflict with her husband’s family – especially the coolly conventional Benedict.
“A beautifully observed and thrillingly honest novel about the dark corners of family life and the long, complicated search for understanding and grace.” —Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation and Weather “The Fourth Child is keen and beautiful and heartbreaking—an exploration of private guilt and unexpected obligation, of the intimate losses of power embedded in female adolescence, and of the fraught moments of glancing divinity that come with shouldering the burden of love.” —Jia Tolentino, New York Times bestselling author of Trick Mirror “A remarkable family saga . . . The Fourth Child is a balm—a reminder that it is possible for art to provide a nuanced exploration of life itself.” —Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind and Rich and Pretty The author of Break in Case of Emergency follows up her “extraordinary debut” (The Guardian) with a moving novel about motherhood and marriage, adolescence and bodily autonomy, family and love, religion and sexuality, and the delicate balance between the purity of faith and the messy reality of life. Book-smart, devoutly Catholic, and painfully unsure of herself, Jane becomes pregnant in high school; by her early twenties, she is raising three children in the suburbs of western New York State. In the fall of 1991, as her children are growing older and more independent, Jane is overcome by a spiritual and intellectual restlessness that leads her to become involved with a local pro-life group. Following the tenets of her beliefs, she also adopts a little girl from Eastern Europe. But Mirela is a difficult child. Deprived of a loving caregiver in infancy, she remains unattached to her new parents, no matter how much love Jane shows her. As Jane becomes consumed with chasing therapies that might help Mirela, her relationships with her family, especially her older daughter, Lauren, begin to fray. Feeling estranged from her mother and unsettled in her new high school, Lauren begins to discover the power of her own burgeoning creativity and sexuality—a journey that both echoes and departs from her mother’s own adolescent experiences. But when Lauren is confronted with the limits of her youth and independence, Jane is thrown into an emotional crisis, forced to reconcile her principles and faith with her determination to keep her daughters safe. The Fourth Child is a piercing love story and a haunting portrayal of how love can shatter—or strengthen—our beliefs.
