In her darkest yet most redeeming novel, Gibbons scorches us with a Þrestorm of despair-and then resurrects love and hope from its very ashes. Autumn 1918: Rumors of peace are spreading across America, but spreading even faster are the first cases of Spanish influenza, whispering of the epidemic to come. Maureen Ross, well past a safe childbearing age, is experiencing a difficult pregnancy. Her husband, Troop-cold and careless of her condition-is an emotional cripple who has battered her spirit throughout their marriage. As Maureen's time grows near, she becomes convinced she will die in childbirth. Into this loveless ménage arrives Mary Oliver, Troop's niece. The sheltered child of a well-to-do, freethinking Washington family, Mary comes to help Maureen in the last weeks of her confinement. Horrified by Troop's bullying, she soon discovers that her true duty is to protect her aunt. As the influenza spreads and the death toll grows, Troop's spiteful behaviors worsen. Tormenting his wife, taunting her for her "low birth," hiding her mother's letters, Troop terrorizes the household. But when Mary fights back, he begins to go over the edge, and Maureen rallies, releasing a stunning thunderstorm of confrontation and, ultimately, finding spiritual renewal. The Boston Globe hailed On the Occasion of My Last Afternoonas "another gift from Kaye Gibbons to the literature celebrating strong women of every age and era." Much the same can be said of Divining Women.

An examination of the language of divination in the Hebrew Bible, particularly in 1 Samuel 28:3-25-the oft-called “Witch of Endor” passage. Kiboko contends that much of the vocabulary of divination in this passage and beyond has been mistranslated in authorized English and other translations used in Africa and in scholarly writings. Kiboko argues that the woman of Endor is not a witch. The woman of Endor is, rather, a diviner, much like other ancient Near Eastern and modern African diviners. She resists an inner-biblical conquest theology and a monologic authoritarian view of divination to assist King Saul by various means, including invoking the spirit of a departed person, Samuel. Kiboko carries out a Hebrew word-study shaped by the theories of Mikhail M. Bakhtin regarding the utterance, heteroglossia, and dialogism in order to understand the designative, connotative, emotive, and associative meanings of the many divinatory terms in the Hebrew Bible. She then examines 1 Samuel 28 and a number of prior translations thereof, using the ideological framework of African-feminist-postcolonial biblical interpreters and translation theories to uncover the hidden ideology or transcript of these translations. Finally, using African contextual/cultural hermeneutics and cross-cultural translation theory, Kiboko offers new English, French, and Kisanga translations of this passage that are both faithful to the original text and more appropriate to an inculturated-liberation African Christian hermeneutic, theology, and praxis.

Women Underwater - The Comprehensive Guide to Women in Scuba Diving, aims to reach out to women with specific information about their place in diving. With detailed guidance on equipment, medical issues and social factors, this book reaches women with inspiring stories from mentors who have forged a career in unique underwater fields. Authors Jill Heinerth and Renee Power tackle topics for both recreational and technical divers while featuring their vast experience in instruction, consulting and working in field predominantly governed by men. At times humorous yet also deadly serious, the book answers delicate questions about hygiene, equipment fit and dealing with sexism. Printed in full color and generously illustrated, Women Underwater will be published alongside a website and blog that keeps readers up to date on opportunities, new equipment and activities for women divers.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A mesmerizing new historical novel” (O, The Oprah Magazine) from Lisa See, the bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, about female friendship and devastating family secrets on a small Korean island. Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger. Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point. “This vivid…thoughtful and empathetic” novel (The New York Times Book Review) illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge and the men take care of the children. “A wonderful ode to a truly singular group of women” (Publishers Weekly), The Island of Sea Women is a “beautiful story…about the endurance of friendship when it’s pushed to its limits, and you…will love it” (Cosmopolitan).

Autumn 1918. Rumors of peace are spreading across America, but spreading even faster are the first cases of Spanish influenza, whispering of the epidemic to come. Maureen Ross, well past a safe childbearing age, is experiencing a difficult pregnancy. Her husband, Troop -- cold and careless of her condition -- has battered her spirit throughout their marriage. Into this loveless ménage arrives Troop's niece, Mary Oliver, who has come to help Maureen in the last weeks of her confinement. Horrified by Troop's bullying, she realizes that her true duty is to protect her aunt. As the influenza spreads and the death toll grows, Troop's spiteful behavior worsens. He terrorizes the household, but when Mary fights back he begins to go over the edge. Maureen rallies, releasing a stunning thunderstorm of confrontation and, ultimately, finding spiritual renewal. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

For millennia, messianic visions of redemption have inspired men and women to turn against unjust and oppressive orders. Yet these very same traditions are regularly decried as antecedents to the violent and authoritarian ideologies of modernity. Informed in equal parts by theology and historical theory, this book offers a provocative exploration of this double-edged legacy. Author Jayne Svenungsson rigorously pursues a middle path between utopian arrogance and an enervated postmodernism, assessing the impact of Jewish and Christian theologies of history on subsequent thinkers, and in the process identifying a web of spiritual and intellectual motifs extending from ancient Jewish prophets to contemporary radicals such as Giorgio Agamben and Slavoj Zizek.

This comprehensive volume on dowsing and divining - from the twig and the pendulum to motorscopes and bare hands - traces the story of these fascinating and enigmatic phenomena from its origins in the world of fairy tales and mythology to recent theories that the enigma can be explained in terms of present-day psychology. The force present in the act of dowsing and divining can be compared to the sensitivity of men and women suffering from rheumatism who feel, in advance, changes of weather. Theories that have been brought forward to explain its presence include suggestion, radiation, colour, the existence of a sixth sense, and changes in the earth's magnetic field. As there are many possible explanations there are also many types and applications of dowsing and divining: map dowsing; being eggs; radiesthesia; the diagnosis and cure of disease; locating missing persons; forces, fields and rays; and detecting thieves. The author tells of dowsers past and present: Robert Leftwich who located abandoned tunnels and other underground hazards; Major Harold Spary who dowsed for the Royal Aircraft Establishment and the Royal Engineers during World War II; William Young who charged £200 a day in 1971 for dowsing; Tom Lethbridge who investigated Viking graves on Lundy Island; Henry Gross who discovered Bermuda's first natural wells. Even today large building and contracting firms employ resident site engineers who use sophisticated sets of divining rods. The book introduces us, in lucid and readable style, to the fascinating world of dowsing and divining, and gives the reader full instructions on how to attempt to become one of this international community.

Considered an essential resource by many in the field, Diving and Subaquatic Medicine remains the leading text on diving medicine, written to fulfil the requirements of any general physician wishing to advise their patients appropriately when a diving trip is planned, for those accompanying diving expeditions or when a doctor is required to assess

"This volume of finely crafted case studies is also the vehicle for an important general theory of divination.... this is a book overflowing with ideas that will powerfully stimulate further research." -- Journal of Ritual Studies "The essays in this collection provide a very useful overview of both the diversity of African divination systems and of recent approaches to their study." -- Choice This unique collection of essays by an exceptional international group of Africanists demonstrates the central role that divination continues to play throughout Africa in maintaining cultural systems and in guiding human action. African Divination Systems offers insights for current discussions in comparative epistemology, cross-cultural psychology, cognition studies, semiotics, ethnoscience, religious studies, and anthropology.