Claire Jones is a newly divorced lesbian looking for love, though after a while she begins to suspect that she may have let her Ms. Right get away from her. A tale of love, sex, romance and a pet cat.

A landmark account of China's environmental history--by an internationally pre-eminent China specialist This is the first environmental history of China during the three thousand years for which there are written records. It is also a treasure trove of literary, political, aesthetic, scientific, and religious sources, which allow the reader direct access to the views and feelings of the Chinese people toward their environment and their landscape. Elvin chronicles the spread of the Chinese style of farming that eliminated the habitat of the elephants that populated the country alongside much of its original wildlife; the destruction of most of the forests; the impact of war on the environmental transformation of the landscape; and the re-engineering of the countryside through water-control systems, some of gigantic size. He documents the histories of three contrasting localities within China to show how ecological dynamics defined the lives of the inhabitants. And he shows that China in the eighteenth century, on the eve of the modern era, was probably more environmentally degraded than northwestern Europe around this time. Indispensable for its new perspective on long-term Chinese history and its explanation of the roots of China's present-day environmental crisis, this book opens a door into the Chinese past.

What do cacti, roses, and succulents have in common? They’re all plants that poke! This book explores these plant species and more, providing an in-depth look at this important plant defense. Readers learn about the function of thorns and burs, and how they’re successful in keeping enemies and predators away. Written to support elementary science curriculua, this volume covers concepts that are important for young science students, including survival and adaptation, ecosystems, and life cycles. Age-appropriate text and detailed photographs make it fun and accessible to learn about science!

Winner of the 2020 Paraclete Poetry Prize, Litany of Flights is a luminous examination of the journey of the soul, from moments of loss to moments of incandescent transformation. These poems remind us to behold the extraordinary in the ordinary, and that the secret workings of the divine occur even through the difficult: “the painful paring of your hollow bones has made you light.” Drawing on the beauty of the natural world, the devastating effects of drought and wildfires, tender moments of daily experience, and lessons of the saints, the poet creates a landscape of light and darkness, with unexpected turns into divine presence and absence. Through a spiral of red-tailed hawks, the nest of a mourning dove, the parting of waters, and the ripeness of a persimmon, this shimmering collection invites the reader to singular and transfiguring flight. Litany of Flights (from the forthcoming collection) First, the winged movement, steady, forward. Scrub jays in flitting progress, hawks in predator glide, a ringing up, a knife-sharp slope down. Second, the effortless type, wind-splayed, motionless pinions in thermal recline, as the Psalmist says, blessings breeze his love even in sleep. Third, the hungry, against the gale, the destination singular and the sun dipping crimson. Fourth, the metallic, business or pleasure. Fifth, the whirring kind, all hummingbird. A picnic, apples and chocolate in the garden with roses, both flower and child. You miss it when it’s gone. Sixth, a baffling flight of stairs, winding upward, passage and yet vehicle, spiraling to unseen landings—hope courses in the kaleidoscopic lights. Seventh, soar to the sun. Eighth, melt in bitter hubris. You know the story. Ninth, escape. A flight out of Egypt, a path through the sea cleared by divine hand. The times you ran, the times you were left behind in lament. Tenth, only rotting in the belly of a whale tames your stubborn turn from Nineveh. Eleventh, flights of despair and of yearning, two sides of one letting go, hard-earned release back into the wild, unbound by expectation, featherlike. Twelfth, in a moment, caught up high by the Beloved, the one making all things work together, wings, body, arch, air—caught up, like the Shulamite bride, to regions beyond aeronautical wisdom, transported in joy. See, he says, the painful paring of your hollow bones has made you light.

On idyllic Rose Island—where perfect Petals rule and treacherous Thorns are imprisoned—nothing is as it seems. While Vienna, a young Thorn pretending to be a Petal, struggles with her decision to conceal her identity, a mysterious foe threatens the island’s very existence. As the hour approaches for Vienna to prove she is a true Petal, she finds herself questioning the real cost and meaning of belonging and the true nature of the Thorns’ plight. Vienna must decide between the life she has always known and an uncertain future where she no longer has to pretend. Unbeknownst to Vienna, the fate of Rose Island lies in her hands.