Other books that might interest you

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  Ben Pitcher's Elly - Mann delves...

  Mary E Mann

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  Mary Rackham was born in Norwich on 14th August 1848 to a merchant family.  Little is known of her early life and her biography only re-appears in September 1871 with marriage to Fairman Joseph Mann, a farmer with 800 acres.   
   
  Mary moved to Shropham, Norfolk and became involved with the workhouse, visiting the sick and other unfortunates of the parish, her observations and experiences a valuable source for her later stories.  
   
  She took up writing, partly to offset the dreary village life of her surroundings, in the 1880s and published her first novel, ‘The Parish of Hilby’ (1883) at her own expense. It was well received by the critics.  
   
  Thus began a career that spanning three decades provided thirty-three novels, hundreds of short stories, and fourteen plays.  Her work was largely focused on rural life in Norfolk and centered on the fictional town of Dulditch, with grim but authentic accounts of poverty and deprivation.  
   
  Her marriage produced one boy and three girls. With her husband's death in 1913, she moved to Sheringham.  
   
  She is regarded as a major contributor to East Anglian literature with particular praise given to her short stories. 
   
  Mary E Mann died on 19th May 1929.  She was 80.  Her grave-marker is a carved open book with the epitaph ‘We bring our years to an end, as if it were a tale that is told’. 
   
  Life in ‘Ben Pitcher's Elly’ is degrading, awful and unvarnished.  The chances of this young girl having a happy life are remote but her story must be heard.

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  On the Tracks of a Shadow

  Carlos Usín

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  At the end of the Spanish Civil War, the government of the Francoist “New Spain” set in motion a complex and Machiavellian system of repression directed against all those Republican prisoners who had lost the war. From that moment on, hundreds of thousands of prisoners (Republicans or not) suffered first-hand the torture of forced labour, internment in concentration camps or in prisons or, in certain cases, death. Although in the vast majority of cases the victims of reprisals belonged to political parties, unions and other left-wing organisations, some internees were practising Catholics educated by the Piarists but were still not spared. This is the story of Enrique, one of those internees, who in 1936, shortly after his twentieth birthday, found himself obliged to take part in a civil war instead of continuing his medical studies at university. Over the following 20 years, his determination to finish his degree did not waver and although he did not fire a single shot, because he spent the war working in a hospital, he was given a Summary Military Trial, sentenced to twelve years and one day for “aiding the rebellion”, suffered internment in concentration camps and prisons and was sent to work battalions where he carried out forced labour, and all that despite being Catholic and right-wing. Quite simply, he was on the wrong side at the least opportune time.

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  Bloom in Barren Soil - A Memoir...

  Susan Montgomery

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  What do we do when diagnosed with a debilitating disease? How do we cope and heal when our life revolves around perfectionism and control? What journey do we take with our pain? 
  Susan Montgomery invites listeners to wander through the beautifully cultivated metaphorical garden in her memoir. As she deals with severe ulcerative colitis and navigates the challenging terrain of two colorectal surgeries, Susan discovers the resilience within her spirit. 
  Bloom in Barren Soil includes:An unfolding narrative as Susan turns to the creative arts—writing, painting, and learning to play music—as a sanctuary of solaceStories from her childhood that show the relationship with her parents, revealing growth and transformationVibrant paintings that blossomed from her brushes during her illness (available as a PDF on CreatedBySusan.com/Bloom) 
  Join Susan on this inspiring journey through her garden, where she learns to confront adversity, thrive, and ultimately bloom with newfound strength and compassion. 
  This is an uplifting tale, reminding us that the human spirit can flourish even in the most unlikely of places.

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  Ian's Ride - A Long-Distance...

  Karen Polinsky, Ian Mackay,...

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  While studying as a biology undergrad at UC Santa Cruz, Ian Mackay crashed his bike into a tree on campus. Paralyzed from the shoulders down, Mackay adapted to his new life with the help of his dedicated family, particularly his mother, Teena Woodward, and a group of quirky friends. After years of despair, and against all odds, he became an inspiring leader, an innovator with Apple, and a world-record-breaking athlete. In this intimate memoir based on more than one hundred hours of interviews, journal entries, and more, writer Karen Polinsky recounts with Ian his accident and determined recovery, in which he discovered the healing power of nature and community. 
   
   
   
  Ian's Ride is both a personal journey and an adventure quest for nature lovers, endurance athletes, and anyone struggling with a life-changing loss or diagnosis. This deeply moving true story examines how we exist in our bodies, adapt to and overcome adversity, and above all what makes our hearts tick.

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  The Universe in Verse - 15...

  Maria Popov

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  In this audiobook Maria Popova, creator of The Marginalian, presents a celebration of the human search for truth and beauty through the lenses of science and poetry. Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, "are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply." In 15 short essays on subjects ranging from the mystery of dark matter and the infinity of pi to the resilience of trees and the intelligence of octopuses, Popova tells the stories of scientific searching and discovery. These stories are interwoven with details from the very real and human lives of scientists—many of them women, many underrecognized—and poets inspired by the same questions and the beauty they reveal. Each essay is paired with a poem reflecting its subject by poets ranging from Emily Dickinson, W. H. Auden, and Edna St. Vincent Millay to Maya Angelou, Diane Ackerman, and Tracy K. Smith. Together, they wake us to a "reality aglow with wonder."

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  Moments We Stand The: In Chains

  Ashlee Boyson

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  Every life has trials. I just never thought mine would lead me to be the victim of an actual trial—a murder trial. Almost two years after that gun sounded, there we were hearing every detail of how he died over, and over, and over again. I had waited so long for the trial to be the pinnacle of my healing. I just knew deep down it would be the moment of peace I had longed for—but as that judge stood to announce the verdict, the emotions that followed were not any I could have ever planned. Truth is . . . nobody ever plans to be a victim. Ashlee shares intimate parts of her healing journey in her 3rd book, The Moments We Stand: In Chains. A murder trial, an interview with Keith Morrison, and sitting across from the secret mistress on the Dr. Phil show. Little did she know those moments were just the beginning of a long journey to finding freedom from the chains.

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