"In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position. What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when...

Pendle Hill Young Fleetwood Shuttleworth is with child again. As the mistress of Gawthorpe Hall, she is anxious to provide her husband with an heir. But none of her previous pregnancies have come to term. Then she discovers a hidden letter from her physician that warns her husband that she will not survive another pregnancy. Distraught over the frightening revelation, Fleetwood wanders the woods of Pendle Hill, where she meets a young local woman...

From the universally acclaimed, genre-busting author of House of Leaves comes a new book as dazzling as it is riveting ... A page-turner from start to finish, ranging from Southeast Asia to Mexico to Venice, Italy, and Venice, California, with characters as diverse as a therapist-in-training whose daughters prove far more complex than her patients, an ambitious East-L.A. gang member hired for violence, two scientists on the run in Marfa, Texas, a...

Presents essays on the habits, physical characteristics, and unusual behaviors of forty-two different species of backyard birds that the author has observed throughout the year.

See the intimate lives of birds as never before! Laura Erikson and Marie Read document the family lives of more than 50 common North American birds through breathtaking close-up photography. Stunning images of hummingbirds, owls, tanagers, and more showcase different stages of avian development and capture the loving bond that exists within each bird family. Bird enthusiasts of all feathers will cherish these beautiful images of courting, nest construction,...

The Statue of Liberty is an ancient goddess. But why are there seven rays emanating from her crown? And why was the torch switched from her left to her right hand? Did you know that the 13 stars and stripes are not simply to honor the 13 colonies? Or why the six-pointed stars on the original American flag were changed to five-pointed stars? Did you know the CBS eye logo is considered by many to be the eye of the devil watching over us? Were you aware...