I am the only girl in the world whose mother can protect her from demons. I swallow convulsively, then smile, because I’m never alone. The air stirs against my shoulder, half a sigh and half a kiss. The kitchen gapes chill and empty about me. Suddenly my skin no longer feels like the taut surface of a drum my heartbeat slows, and the pressure in my chest eases. I remember Mother whispering it to me when I was little and she was still alive I remember how she stroked the hair back from my face and explained why I must never look too long at the shadows.īut I don’t say the prayer. Apollo all-healer, Apollo light-bringer, Apollo Invictus: deliver us from the eyes of demons. Too many shadows.Īnd one thought burns through my body: there is a demon in the kitchen.Įven before my heart slams against my rib cage, my hands fly to cover my eyes. I begin to stretch.įrom the corner of my eye, I see them: shadows clustered around the coal scuttle. From over the doorway, the little miniature portrait of Mother smiles down at me. The pots I scoured last night sit gleaming on the stove. The kitchen looks the same as usual: garlic and rosemary hang in neat bunches from the ceiling. I sit up, knuckling the sleep out of my eyes. My mother loved me more than life itself.
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We won't be going every step of the way here, but sipping lightly at the delights of Bill's canny observations. It's from the South Coast he starts his long walk the length of the island, attempting to follow a direct line from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, Scotland's furthest tip. The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from A Small Island sports a colourful drawing of the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters, and a jolly John Bull-type fisherman. Notes from a Small Island is the best-selling British travel book ever, and was voted in a BBC poll "the book that best represents Britain", so the follow-up was inevitable – although it has taken 20 years. In a way that the British find difficult to express themselves, Bryson finds a country that is bewildering, quirky, endearing and beautiful. Ever since he pottered about Britain, with his Notes from A Small Island, sticking his nose into every small corner of the scept'red isle, an unashamedly Anglophile American, the Brits have taken Bill Bryson to their bosom, charmed by his obvious fondness for their eccentric ways, and the hilarity he finds at every turn of their little roads. Join the Circle for author chats and more. Alison Weir pieces together a life steeped in mystery and misfortune, debunking centuries-old myths to give us the truth about Mary Boleyn, the so-called “great and infamous whore.” With new and compelling evidence, Weir presents the most conclusive answer to date on the paternity of Mary’s children, long speculated to have been Henry VIII’s progeny. MARY BOLEYN THE GREAT AND INFAMOUS WHORE by Alison Weir (An unauthorised version of Alison's original text, below, appeared in The Daily Telegraph in 2011) Mary Boleyn was the mistress of two kings, Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England, and sister to Anne Boleyn, Henrys second wife. She tracks the probable course of their affair and investigates the truth behind Mary’s notorious reputation. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Mary Boleyn : The Mistress of Kings, Paperback by Weir, Alison, Brand New, Fr. Unraveling the truth about Mary’s much-vaunted notoriety at the French court and her relations with King François I, Weir also explores Mary’s role at the English court and how she became Henry VIII’s lover. Making use of extensive original research, Weir shares revelations on the ambitious Boleyn family and the likely nature of the relationship between the Boleyn sisters. New York Times bestselling author and noted British historian Alison Weir gives us the first full-scale, in-depth biography of Mary Boleyn, sister to Queen Anne as well as mistress to Anne’s husband, Henry VIII-and one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. If you scroll to the end of the reviews linked here, you will find links to all the previous years’ stories, which means NINETY-THREE FREEBIES FOR YOU! i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2019 reading-challenge goals. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. This is the FOURTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. This explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. Both the political allegory and the edge-of-your-seat action work beautifully. Through this brutal, fight-scene-studded story, the author delivers insightful critiques of the prison-industrial complex, capitalism, and the ways in which Hollywood and celebrity culture exploit Black talent. As Thurwar takes a step closer to freedom one match at a time, however, she begins to worry about leaving Hamara and her other Links behind. Among these superstars are fighters Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, who have made names for themselves as undefeated champions and “Links,” or teammates in a Chain-Gang. Fighters who partake in the Chain-Gang All-Stars operation can rise to fame and notoriety, a crucial profit-driving component for those who control CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment. where people incarcerated in an expansive private prison system have the option to fight for their freedom in gladiator-style death matches. Bestseller Adjei-Brenyah sets his breathtaking and pulse-pounding debut novel (after the short story collection Friday Black) in a dystopian alternate U.S. |