Enjoy this gentle and kind historical fantasy romance set in the magical community of Great Britain after the Great War. Thalia wants to make an impact. Thalia's life is full of artists, authors, and other creative minds, but she's barely keeping herself together. After yet another rejection of her writing, she's willing to keep an eye out on a remote home on the edge of Dartmoor while her reclusive great-aunt takes a rest cure. Adam hasn't been the same since the Great War. Adam's family have long since run out of tolerance for his continuing shell shock. His uncle's broken leg is the perfect excuse to get Adam out of the house - at least he can make himself useful fetching and carrying. Adam's not at all sure he can be any sort of help to anyone. When he visits his uncle's apple orchard, he's even more confused by what he finds - and no one else seems to find the late-ripening apples at all unusual. The house has its own secrets. At first, the house seems a pleasant enough retreat for Thalia. The housekeeper and maid are competent, if distant. The food is wonderful, and she didn't have to buy or cook it herself. But there's the odd noise from the attic, the locked rooms, the ageless photographs. When she meets Adam, they at least agree that something is odd. Can they discover the secret and change their futures? Mistress of Birds is the seventh book of the Mysterious Powers series, exploring the institutions of Albion during and after the Great War. All of Celia Lake's Albion books exploring the magical community of the British Isles can be read in any order. It is full of gothic mystery, feeling out of place, apples, birds, and how to move forward into a new stage of life. Enjoy this charming romantic fantasy set in 1927 with a happily ever after ending! Keywords: Gothic, romance, Dartmoor, 1920s, 1927, apples, folklore, hare, uncanny, spooky, atmospheric, magic, England, shell shock, PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, Great War, VAD, voluntary aid detachment, nursing, folklore, mystery, spooky, cosy historical fantasy romance

There are 10,500 species of bird worldwide and wherever they occur people marvel at their glorious colours and their beautiful songs. We also trap and consume birds of every kind. Yet birds have not just been good to eat. Their feathers, which keep us warm or adorn our costumes, give birds unique mastery over the heavens. Throughout history their flight has inspired the human imagination so that birds are embedded in our religions, folklore, music and arts. Vast in both scope and scale, Birds and People explores and celebrates this relationship and draws upon Mark Cocker’s 40 years of observing and thinking about birds. Part natural history and part cultural study, it describes and maps the entire spectrum of our engagements with birds, drawing in themes of history, literature, art, cuisine, language, lore, politics and the environment. In the end, this is a book as much about us as it is about birds. Birds and People has been stunningly illustrated by one of Europe’s best wildlife photographers, David Tipling, who has travelled in 39 countries on seven continents to produce a breathtaking and unique collection of photographs. The book is as important for its visual riches as it is for its groundbreaking content. Birds and People is also exceptional in that the author has solicited contributions from people worldwide. Personal anecdotes and stories have come from more than 650 individuals in 81 different countries. They range from university academics to Mongolian eagle hunters, and from Amerindian shamans to some of the most celebrated writers of our age. The sheer multitude of voices in this global chorus means that Birds and People is both a source book on why we cherish birds and a powerful testament to their importance for all humanity.

In his first novel since Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernières creates a world, populates it with characters as real as our best friends, and launches it into the maelstrom of twentieth-century history. The setting is a small village in southwestern Anatolia in the waning years of the Ottoman Empire. Everyone there speaks Turkish, though they write it in Greek letters. It’s a place that has room for a professional blasphemer; where a brokenhearted aga finds solace in the arms of a Circassian courtesan who isn’t Circassian at all; where a beautiful Christian girl named Philothei is engaged to a Muslim boy named Ibrahim. But all of this will change when Turkey enters the modern world. Epic in sweep, intoxicating in its sensual detail, Birds Without Wings is an enchantment.

This book uses insights from religious studies, literary theory, and the history of science for understanding the Sumerian composition Nanše and the Birds in the context of the Old Babylonian scribal school. It contains editions of all the relevant Sumerian texts.

The 'Big Book of Christmas Tales' is a captivating anthology that traverses the vivacious literary landscape of Christmas narratives. Encompassing a wide range of literary styles, from the whimsical to the solemn, this collection presents an unparalleled amalgamation of stories that both illuminate and celebrate the myriad facets of the holiday season. Its significance is bolstered by the inclusion of seminal works from a pantheon of authors renowned for their contributions to literature, narratively weaving through the themes of hope, generosity, redemption, and the human condition. The diversity of tales, from Dickenss evocative portrayals of Victorian Christmases to Andersens timeless fairy tales, showcases the universal and enduring appeal of Christmas storytelling. The contributing authors and editors of this anthology bring together a veritable tapestry of cultural, historical, and literary backgrounds, united by the theme of Christmas. Their collective works resonate with various movements and epochs in literature, from Victorian sentimentalism to the poignant realism of Dostoevsky, reflecting the profound ways in which Christmas has been celebrated, challenged, and depicted throughout literary history. The anthology stands as a testament to the rich interplay of cultural narratives and individual creativity, offering a holistic exploration of Christmas through the lenses of some of the greatest writers in history. 'Readers seeking a comprehensive exploration of the Christmas spirit through literature need look no further than the Big Book of Christmas Tales. This anthology not only offers a unique opportunity to engage with the holiday season through a multitude of perspectives, styles, and themes but also serves as a testament to the enduring power of storytelling in capturing the essence of human experiences connected to Christmas. It invites readers to delve into a literary feast, promising both enlightenment and entertainment, and fostering a deeper appreciation for the ways in which Christmas has been immortalized in literature.