Other books that might interest you

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  Catherine's Lieutenant

  Mary Ward Mortensen

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  Throughout her life, Mary Mortensen’s father’s war trunk was a constant presence, moving with the family from home to home. Upon his passing, she discovered it held every letter exchanged between her parents during World War II, revealing a poignant story of love and courage. 
  On a three-day pass from Camp Mackall, North Carolina, Second Lieutenant Frank R. Ward met Catherine Oliver on the white sands of Myrtle Beach. What began as a chance encounter sparked a lifelong love story that would endure the trials of World War II. Frank’s deployment took him across North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and the South of France, culminating in the harrowing Battle of the Bulge. 
  Through Frank’s letters, Mary uncovered the extraordinary courage of "Lieutenant Frank Ward" and the often-overlooked sacrifices of the 17th Airborne Glider Unit. In Catherine’s Lieutenant, she honors her parents’ legacy and the enduring spirit of those who fought for freedom.

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  Strange Little Girl

  Jessica Knight

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  Maybe you don’t need heaven, maybe you just need to find yourself. 
  My father tells it because he made it up. A little bedtime story of my origin. They are not really my parents, the people who I call Mum and Dad. Those are not my siblings, the kids who I know as my brother and sisters. 
  I am not really human. 
  I am an alien from another planet in a far distant constellation. 
  Jessica Knight grew up on a dairy farm in rural Victoria, her crib next door to where all the cows were milked. It’s a loving Mormon household, a god-fearing home. While they don’t have very much, it’s their values and good humour that allows them to laugh at what scares them. 
  All young Jessica wants is to be good and make her parents and her Heavenly Father happy. She cleans the house and helps out with her siblings; all the while being subjected to intensive medical tests and major surgeries. Doctors consider her a puzzle and a medical mystery. 
  But what if you decide you want to be open about your fears? 
  This is the story of how one young woman learned to move on from the life she was expected to have, embraced what she was scared of, and looked to her future with an open heart and mind.

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  The Best American Science...

  Hugh Howey, John Joseph Adams

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  A collection of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy short fiction selected by New York Times bestselling author of the Silo series Hugh Howey and series editor John Joseph Adams. 
  “These are dangerous stories. The kind that warp reality and threaten to change the world” warns guest editor Hugh Howey in his introduction. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 promises a treasure trove of audacious characters, daring worldbuilding, and twisted realties. A sibling duo of supernatural hitmen. A traveling spellbreaker and his trusty alligator mount. Superheroes registering for work. Sentient spaceships with an AI-human interface grow up together with their human pilots. From a Korean folk-tale retelling about the goddess of shamans, to a car, resurrected from obsolescence via automancy, for a road trip from California to Maine, these are stories that, for Howey, “challenged my worldview, that made me exercise new mental muscles, and that brought me to tears.” 
  The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2024 includes A.R. CAPETTA • P. DJÈLÍ CLARK • JAMES S.A. COREY • AMAL EL-MOHTAR • ANDREW SEAN GREER • GRADY HENDRIX • ANN LECKIE • SAM J. MILLER REBECCA ROANHORSE • and others

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  The Children We Left Behind -...

  Adam B. Coleman

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  Nearly every major social problem in the West can be traced back to our declining appreciation for the nuclear family structure and our failure to plan for families properly. Our culture has shifted from prioritizing sacrifice for the benefit of innocent children to catering to the fleeting desires of the adults who bring them into the world. 
  As a result, family separation has become commonplace, and what we consider normal is often rationalized, even when it harms our children. The culture of radical individualism among adults has left children to bear the consequences of their parents' choices. 
  I was once that child who was left behind, neglected by his father, and witnessed his mother shoulder the load for our survival. My father's choice to abandon me physically and emotionally contributed to my decades of struggle with depression, low self-esteem, and suicidal ideation. 
  Unfortunately, my experience of homelessness, mental hospital incarceration, and perpetual internal strife is no longer rare. However, our stories are often ignored, and we avoid holding accountable the parents who have failed us. 
  If we are to change our culture's trajectory, we must sacrifice our pride and prioritize the needs of our children over our own selfish desires. Our children must come first, or they will come last-there is no middle ground.

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  Idyl of London An - From their...

  Beatrice Harrenden

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  The bookshelves of British literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors.  From these Isles their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure.  Among them is Beatrice Harrenden.

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  Dies Irae - From their pens to...

  Kenneth Grahame

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  Kenneth Grahame was born on 8th March 1859 in Edinburgh. 
  At age 5 his mother succumbed to puerperal fever.  His father, who had a drinking problem, now sent his 4 children to live with their grandmother at her large house in Cookham, Berkshire. Here the children lived in large open grounds next to the river.  These early experiences would in later years, be retold in his writing through a myriad of characters. 
  Grahame loved being a pupil at St Edward's School, Oxford and wanted to enroll at the university there but his guardian demurred on account of the cost. 
  Instead, a banking career was chosen for him, starting in 1879 at the Bank of England, where he rose steadily to the rank of its Secretary until retiring, with a pension, in 1908 due to ill health. 
  Alongside his commercial career Grahame had written and published various stories and essays in several periodicals. Some were anthologized as ‘Pagan Papers’ in 1893, and two years later ‘The Golden Age’ and later still ‘Dream Days’ and its masterpiece ‘The Reluctant Dragon’ became part of many home libraries.  His ability to view life through the lens of a young and curious child was superb, enabling the reader to easily identify with the character.   
  Grahame married Elspeth Thomson in 1899 and they had one child; Alastair, born semi-blind and plagued by health problems.  In a heart-rending tragedy he would later take his own life whilst attending Oxford University in 1920.   
  In 1908 Grahame reworked many of the bedtime stories he had fashioned for his son into the enduring favourite; ‘The Wind in the Willows’, describing the heart-warming adventures of Mr Toad and his friends.   
  Kenneth Grahame died in Pangbourne, Berkshire, on 6th July 1932.

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