Two sisters, Liz and Angie, meet at their deceased parents country house to prepare it for sale. The sisters have never been close, but both are besieged by memories of their childhood and their parents. They are haunted by this house, where their father, a pacifist Unitarian minister, committed suicide. In the end, the sisters reconcile with each other and with the past. The novel takes place during one week in August 1973, when the sisters are middle-aged, but each chapter ends in a flashback to the years of World War II, when they were adolescents and the family was in turmoil, the father wrestling with his conscience over his pacifism and an affair with a Polish refugee, a son killed in the war, and one daughter sinking into bipolar disorder.

Set in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1937, this is a story of family relationships in trouble. Amy, who is nine, wants to be friends with George, her workaholic father. George, a new dean at Harvard, who is also involved with the New Deal, has little time for his two young daughters. Amy is miserable in her new school and tries to make friends with an unhappy man, who enters their household as a butler. His horrifying fate shocks the whole family and yet it changes the relationship between George and Amy for the better, initiating a new trust and friendship

One intrepid cook's exploration of her urban terrain In this groundbreaking collection of nearly 500 wild food recipes, celebrated New York City forager, cook, kitchen gardener, and writer Marie Viljoen incorporates wild ingredients into everyday and special occasion fare. Motivated by a hunger for new flavors and working with thirty-six versatile wild plants--some increasingly found in farmers markets--she offers deliciously compelling recipes for everything from cocktails and snacks to appetizers, entr es, and desserts, as well as bakes, breads, preserves, sauces, syrups, ferments, spices, and salts. From underexplored native flavors like bayberry and spicebush to accessible ecological threats like Japanese knotweed and mugwort, Viljoen presents hundreds of recipes unprecedented in scope. They range from simple quickweed griddle cakes with American burnweed butter to sophisticated dishes like a souffl ed tomato roulade stuffed with garlic mustard, or scallops seared with sweet white clover, cattail pollen, and sweetfern butter. Viljoen makes unfamiliar ingredients familiar by treating each to a thorough culinary examination, allowing readers to grasp every plant's character and inflection. Forage, Harvest, Feast--featuring hundreds of color photographs as well as cultivation tips for plants easily grown at home--is destined to become a standard reference for any cook wanting to transform wildcrafted ingredients into exceptional dishes, spices, and drinks. Eating wild food, Viljoen reminds us, is a radical act of remembering and honoring our shared heritage. Led by a quest for exceptional flavor and ecologically sound harvesting, she tames the feral kitchen, making it recognizable and welcoming to regular cooks.

A magickal guide to working with runes and plant allies for manifestation, healing, and spellwork • Examines the herb and plant connections of each of the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark as well as correspondences with deities, astrology, tarot, and crystals • Provide examples and tips on how runes and plants may be combined within spells and ritual for manifesting, protecting, healing, banishing, and more • Explains how runes and plants can be worked with for the soulful process of rewilding and connecting with Mother Nature In this magickal grimoire, herbalist witch Nicolette Miele immerses readers in the wisdom and folklore of the 24 Elder Futhark runes as well as their correspondences with deities, astrology, tarot, crystals, and plants. Each chapter begins by discussing the etymology, meanings, mythology, divination, correspondences, and magick of a particular rune and culminates with profiles of several herbs and plants that possess similar magickal energies. Each plant profile delves into the magickal, metaphysical, traditional, and medicinal applications as well as how to work with these incredible plant allies. For example, the author connects Fehu, the rune of wealth and value, with the practice of altar-building, making offerings, and with alfalfa, cedar, dandelion, and other plants traditionally used in abundance and prosperity magick. In the chapter on Kenaz, the rune of heat and illumination, the nature connection is nurtured through the element of fire and a step-by-step bindrune candle ritual. The plants connected with Kenaz are those that embody the characteristics of fire—such as passion, ferocity, and sexuality— and include clove, damiana, and kava kava. Guiding the green witch through the benefits and strengths of synergistic magick, this book helps eclectic magickal practitioners advance their craft through folk magick and medicine, rituals, meditations, spells, and the soulful process of rewilding and connecting with Mother Nature.