検索キーワード： ナレーター "Elisabeth Ashby" すべてのカテゴリー

No one is at all sure what a book wraith might be, but whatever it is definitely has the battered tomes in the Library of the Sapphire Wind very worried indeed. Figuring out what a book wraith could be is hardly the least of the challenges that the newly formed House of Rough Diamonds will face as the motley assortment of members-including three women who are literally "out of this world"-attempt to secure ownership of the Library.

Wanda's multiple affairs are revealed within the context of a twisted game that sends everyone in search of golden keys that just might unlock their ability to use matchmaking powers. This game has many rewards that could elevate you to great success while at the same time this game has many risks that can degrade you into grand failure. Are you sure that the key that you have will unlock a magnificent world of pleasantries or an unpredictable world of wickedness?

Long before Delaney McPhearson learned of her destiny, a brave group of women defended a heritage that would one day aid us all. The history of the forces working to protect the world extends far beyond the time of Delaney McPhearson. One of the first tests of those chosen to defend the good in the New World dates back to one of the uglier times in American history: the Salem Witch Trials.

Six months have passed since Delaney McPhearson went missing. And during that time, things have not been going well for Jake Rogan. He's been heading up the search for Laney. Every lead he's run down has only led to frustration and disappointment. But now, a situation has developed that steals his attention. And that's not the only thing that is being stolen—children are disappearing across the globe. Jake has a new mission and a new goal—to find those children.

In a trio of popular gender rituals—sorority rush, beauty pageants, and the Confederate Pageant of the Natchez (Mississippi) Pilgrimage—young white southern women have readily ditched contemporary modes of dress and comportment for performances of purity, gentility, and deference. Clearly, the ability to "do" white southern womanhood, convincingly and on cue, has remained a valued performance. Based on ethnographic research and taped interviews, Southern Beauty goes behind the scenes of the three rituals to explore the motivations and rewards associated with participation.

In the late 1960s, Patsy Channing, a stunningly beautiful young woman, was suspended from the venerable Mississippi State College for Women for breach of conduct. The resulting scandal reached all the way to the Columbus courthouse, and the press ate it up. But Patsy's story starts long before that, living with a preoccupied and troubled mother in Memphis, Tennessee. Music becomes her ticket out and a vehicle for the one thing she covets most—a chance to be crowned Miss America. In Confessions of a Southern Beauty Queen, Julie Hines Mabus provides a peek into that world.

The Trebors are in more danger than ever before. The tribe is divided, Mt. Bor spits fire as its caverns boil, and the Borian Sea holds a secret of its own. When the malpeds flew away with seeds from the great tree, scouts are sent to retrieve them, but the power of the seeds is so great they grow immediately into a field of fledgling trees. Within days, the tribe is divided between those seeking a new way of life in the field nestled at the foot of Mt. Bor, and those choosing to stay with the great tree.

Stunning, stubborn, and independent, Philadelphia Fox lost her best friend because of the fabulously rich and powerful Lightfoot family of Washington state. Now she's got her friend's controlling shares in Lightfoot Industries—an inheritance that brings Nick, the family's prodigal and supremely attractive son, knocking at her door.

Negative, broken, lie-filled sentences fill your head as you work, play, and go about your life. These scripts are sidelining you, maligning you, harming you. What if there were another way? What if your life didn't have to be defined by what others say? Or even by what you say to yourself over and over? What if you knew that beauty and life are yours to be found and you finally danced in the freedom that awaits you? There is more for you, friend—so much more.

Instead of mentors, they got monsters. That's what Xerak, Vereez, and Grunwold think when three strange creatures shimmer into being within the circle of Hettua Shrine. Their conclusion is reasonable enough. After all, they've never seen humans before. As for Margaret Blake, Peg Gallegos, and Tessa Brown—more usually known as Meg, Peg, and Teg—they're equally astonished but, oddly enough, better prepared. Age and experience have accustomed them to surprises.

Caroline McAlister, college professor and lifelong skeptic, is reeling from the loss of her father and her marriage. Her once promising career has come to a standstill. When her father bequeaths the family cabin to her, it comes with a ghost who haunted her childhood. When she discovers a century-old journal in the attic, she awakens the voice of Carson Quinn. The journal reveals Carson's love for the same hollow that enthralled Caroline growing up. A little sleuthing uncovers rumors that the kind, curious boy in the journal grew up to murder his brother.

Peace reigns in the Land of Bori. Growth springs from the earth as the great tree pushes its power through its mighty roots. But there's a noise at the edge of the forest. It darts into the dark. A voice calls to the Trebors. Come and play with us. Come and play with us. But when Ebert decides to follow what lurks in the forest, he has an unexpected encounter. The malpeds have returned. Pitter pat. Pitter pat. Their tiny legs run their rhythm. Pitter pat. Pitter pat. Look what we can do, they say. We are changed, they say. Can this be true?

Bori is ravaged, the earth scorched, homes destroyed. Stella longs for the days of peace, where Trebors danced and sang, where her tree home held all she needed. Now devastation surrounds her and worse yet, her father is missing. He didn't make it home before the storm ripped through the land. The devastated forest calls Stella to journey into it, to look for her father, and face down whatever hides in its deep crevices. But a shifting shape of evil lurks nearby and threatens to destroy everything she knows and loves.

Dar Roberts, corporate raider for a multi-national tech company, is cold, practical, and merciless. She does her job with razor-sharp accuracy. Friends are a luxury she cannot allow herself, and love is something she knows she'll never attain. Kerry Stuart left Michigan for Florida in an attempt to get away from her domineering politician father and the constraints of the overly conservative life her family forced upon her. After college she worked her way into supervision at a small tech company, only to have it taken over by Dar Roberts's organization.

Egg freezing is rarely about women postponing fertility for the sake of their careers. Rather, the most-educated women are increasingly forced to delay childbearing because they face a mating gap—a lack of eligible, educated, equal partners ready for marriage and parenthood. For these women, egg freezing is a reproductive backstop, a technological attempt to bridge the gap while waiting for the right partner. Their stories reveal the extent to which it is logistically complicated, physically taxing, financially demanding, emotionally draining, and uncertain in its effects.

A Southern white writer, educator, and activist, Lillian Smith (1897-1966) spoke out all her life against injustice. In Killers of the Dream, her most influential book, she draws on memories of her childhood to describe the psychological and moral cost of the powerful, contradictory rules about sin, sex, and segregation—the intricate system of taboos—that undergirded Southern society.