Since at least Tudor times there have been architectural salvages: panelling, chimney pieces, doorways, or any fixtures and fittings might be removed from an old interior to be replaced by more fashionable ones. Not surprisingly a trade developed and architects, builders, masons, and sculptors sought out these salvages. By 1820 there was a growing profession of brokers and dealers in London, and a century later antique shops were commonplace throughout England. This fascinating book documents the break-up, sale, and re-use of salvages in Britain and America, where the fashion for so-called “Period Rooms” became a mainstay of the transatlantic trade. Much appreciated by museum visitors, period rooms have become something of a scholarly embarrassment, as research reveals that many were assembled from a variety of sources. One American embraced the trade as no other--the larger-than-life William Randolph Hearst--who purchased tens of thousands of architectural salvages between 1900 and 1935.

In 1992 Mark Anderson met the love of his life. A Lonely Hearts ad in Time Out may not have promised much, but a long and detailed letter from an Australian called Drew marked the beginning of a relationship Mark is still struggling to come to terms with.

The New York Times bestselling author of Before I Fall and the Delirium trilogy makes her brilliant adult debut with this mesmerizing story in the tradition of The Lovely Bones, Her Fearful Symmetry, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane—a tale of family, ghosts, secrets, and mystery, in which the lives of the living and the dead intersect in shocking, surprising, and moving ways. Wealthy Richard Walker has just died, leaving behind his country house full of rooms packed with the detritus of a lifetime. His estranged family—bitter ex-wife Caroline, troubled teenage son Trenton, and unforgiving daughter Minna—have arrived for their inheritance. But the Walkers are not alone. Prim Alice and the cynical Sandra, long dead former residents bound to the house, linger within its claustrophobic walls. Jostling for space, memory, and supremacy, they observe the family, trading barbs and reminiscences about their past lives. Though their voices cannot be heard, Alice and Sandra speak through the house itself—in the hiss of the radiator, a creak in the stairs, the dimming of a light bulb. The living and dead are each haunted by painful truths that will soon surface with explosive force. When a new ghost appears, and Trenton begins to communicate with her, the spirit and human worlds collide—with cataclysmic results. Elegantly constructed and brilliantly paced, Rooms is an enticing and imaginative ghost story and a searing family drama that is as haunting as it is resonant.

A young software tycoon inherits a coastal Oregon home that is really a physical manifestation of his soul being used by God to heal the man's greatest wounds.

Kidnapped as a teenage girl, Ma has been locked inside a purpose built room in her captor's garden for seven years. Her five year old son, Jack, has no concept of the world outside and happily exists inside Room with the help of Ma's games and his vivid imagination where objects like Rug, Lamp and TV are his only friends. But for Ma the time has come to escape and face their biggest challenge to date: the world outside Room.

How do you set up a children's room that is fun, colorful, or perhaps more traditional? One that leaves enough room for playing and daydreaming and makes children's heart beat faster? A child's room must be fun both for its smaller inhabitants and for the parents, who usually arrange them: it's here that budding young minds first begin to explore the world. These rooms have plenty to do, acting as a playroom, a place to sleep, a reading nook, and a space for young minds to concentrate and watch creativity unfold. Years can be spent playing and learning in a child's room, a sibling might move in, and exchanging laughter is a certainty. Setting up a children's room can be a wonderful challenge, and can bring the greatest joy to parents. Little Big Rooms offers inspiration for mothers and fathers, pairing priceless tips for new rooms or spaces in need of an update with furniture and accessory recommendations sure to please both young children and their discerning parents.