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Michigan Legends: Folktales and Lore from the Great Lakes State
By Sheryl James. 2013
Over the course of its history, the state of Michigan has produced its share of folktales and lore. Many are…
familiar with the Ojibwa legend of Sleeping Bear Dunes, and most have heard a yarn or two told of Michigan's herculean lumberjack, Paul Bunyan. But what about Detroit's Nain Rouge, the red-eyed imp they say bedeviled the city's earliest residents? Or Le Griffon, the Great Lakes' original ghost ship that some believe haunts the waters to this day? Or the Bloodstoppers, Upper Peninsula folk who've been known to halt a wound's bleeding with a simple touch thanks to their magic healing powers? In Michigan Legends, Sheryl James collects these and more stories of the legendary people, events, and places from Michigan's real and imaginary past. Set in a range of historical time periods and locales as well as featuring a collage of ethnic traditions--including Native American, French, English, African American, and Finnish--these tales are a vivid sample of the state's rich cultural heritage. This book will appeal to all Michiganders and anyone else interested in good folktales, myths, legends, or lore.Kuessipan
By David Homel, Naomi Fontaine. 2013
Kuessipan is an extraordinary, meditative novel about life among the Native Innu people of northeast Quebec. With the grace and…
perfect pitch, author Naomi Fontaine (herself an Innu) conjures up a world that reads like no other, and a community-of nomadic hunters and fishers, of mothers and children-who endure a harsh and sometimes cruel reality with quiet dignity.Two Old Women
By Velma Wallis. 1993
Based on an Athabascan Indian legend passed along for many generations from mothers to daughters of the upper Yukon River…
Valley in Alaska, this is the suspenseful, shocking, ultimately inspirational tale of two old women abandoned by their tribe during a brutal winter famine. Though these women have been known to complain more than contribute, they now must either survive on their own or die trying. In simple but vivid detail, Velma Wallis depicts a landscape and way of life that are at once merciless and starkly beautiful. In her old women, she has created two heroines of steely determination whose story of betrayal, friendship, community, and forgiveness "speaks straight to the heart with clarity, sweetness, and wisdom" (Ursula K. Le Guin).American Indian Trickster Tales
By Richard Erdoes. 1998
Of all the characters in myths and legends told around the world, it's the wily trickster who provides the real…
spark in the action, causing trouble wherever he goes. This figure shows up time and again in Native American folklore, where he takes many forms, from the irascible Coyote of the Southwest, to Iktomi, the amorphous spider man of the Lakota tribe. This dazzling collection of American Indian trickster tales, compiled by an eminent anthropologist and a master storyteller, serves as the perfect companion to their previous masterwork, American Indian Myths and Legends. American Indian Trickster Tales includes more than one hundred stories from sixty tribes? many recorded from living storytellers?which are illustrated with lively and evocative drawings. These entertaining tales can be read aloud and enjoyed by readers of any age, and will entrance folklorists, anthropologists, lovers of Native American literature, and fans of both Joseph Campbell and the Brothers Grimm. .Taino: A Novel
By José Barreiro. 2012
"Written" by Guaikán, the elderly Taino man who, in his youth, was adopted by Christopher Columbus and saw history unfold,…
Taino is the Indian chronicle of the American encounter, the Native view on Columbus and what happened in the Caribbean. This novel, based on a true story, penetrates the historical veil that still enshrines the "discovery." Presently a senior fellow at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, José Barreiro is a novelist, essayist, and an activist of nearly four decades on American indigenous hemispheric themes. Barreiro is a member of the Taino Nation of the Antilles.How to be Nowhere
By Tim MacGabhann. 2020
Life is finally on the right track for reporter and recovering addict Andrew: he is slowly coming to terms with…
the murder of his photographer boyfriend Carlos, pursuing sobriety and building a new home with a new partner. Andrew has almost forgotten about the story that ruined his life - but that story hasn't forgotten about him, and a series of deadly threats forces him into helping the very man whose gang murdered his boyfriend and left him homeless.A literary take on the classic chase movie, HOW TO BE NOWHERE is the sequel to Tim MacGabhann's genre-busting and critically-acclaimed debut CALL HIM MINE, and a blistering thrill-ride deep into the fog of Central America's murky present and tragic future.Empire of Wild: A Novel
By Cherie Dimaline. 2019
A #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLEROne of the most anticipated books of the summer for Time, Harper's Bazaar, Bustle and Publishers Weekly'Deftly…
written, gripping and informative. Empire of Wild is a rip-roaring read!' Margaret Atwood'Empire of Wild is doing everything I love in a contemporary novel and more. It is tough, funny, beautiful, honest and propulsive' Tommy Orange, author of There There 'Dimaline turns an old story into something newly haunting and resonant' New York Times'Close, tight, stark, beautiful - rich where richness is warranted, but spare where want and sorrow have sharpened every word. Dimaline has crafted something both current and timeless' NPR'Revelatory... Gritty and engaging, this story of a woman and her missing husband is one of candor, wit and tradition'Ms. Magazine Broken-hearted Joan has been searching for her husband, Victor, for almost a year - ever since he went missing on the night they had their first serious argument. One hung-over morning in a Walmart parking lot in a little town near Georgian Bay, she is drawn to a revival tent where the local Métis have been flocking to hear a charismatic preacher. By the time she staggers into the tent the service is over, but as she is about to leave, she hears an unmistakable voice.She turns, and there is Victor. Only he insists he is not Victor, but the Reverend Eugene Wolff, on a mission to bring his people to Jesus.With only two allies - her Johnny-Cash-loving, 12-year-old nephew Zeus, and Ajean, a foul-mouthed euchre shark with deep knowledge of the old Métis ways - Joan sets out to remind the Reverend Wolff of who he really is. If he really is Victor, his life and the life of everyone she loves, depends upon her success.Inspired by traditional Métis legends, Cherie Dimaline has created a propulsive, stunning and sensuous novel.Betty: The International Bestseller
By Tiffany McDaniel. 2020
'Breahtaking'Vogue'So engrossing! Betty is a page-turning Appalachian coming-of-age story steeped in Cherokee history, told in undulating prose that settles right…
into you'Naoise Dolan, Sunday Times bestselling author of Exciting Times 'I felt consumed by this book. I loved it, you will love it' Daisy Johnson, Booker Prize shortlisted author of Everthing Under'I loved Betty: I fell for its strong characters and was moved by the story it portrayed' Fiona Mozley, Booker Prize shortlisted author of Elmet 'A girl comes of age against the knife.' So begins the story of Betty Carpenter. Born in a bathtub in 1954 to a Cherokee father and white mother, Betty is the sixth of eight siblings. The world they inhabit is one of poverty and violence - both from outside the family and also, devastatingly, from within. When her family's darkest secrets are brought to light, Betty has no choice but to reckon with the brutal history hiding in the hills, as well as the heart-wrenching cruelties and incredible characters she encounters in her rural town of Breathed, Ohio.Despite the hardship she faces, Betty is resilient. Her curiosity about the natural world, her fierce love for her sisters and her father's brilliant stories are kindling for the fire of her own imagination, and in the face of all she bears witness to, Betty discovers an escape: she begins to write.A heartbreaking yet magical story, Betty is a punch-in-the-gut of a novel - full of the crushing cruelty of human nature and the redemptive power of words. 'Not a story you will soon forget' Karen Joy Fowler, Booker Prize shortlisted author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves 'Shot through with moonshine, Bible verses, and folklore, Betty is about the cruelty we inflict on one another, the beauty we still manage to find, and the stories we tell in order to survive' Eowyn Ivey, author of The Snow ChildThe Language of Birds
By Jill Dawson. 2019
Drawing on the infamous Lord Lucan affair, this compelling novel explores the roots of a shocking murder from a fresh…
perspective and brings to vivid life an era when women's voices all too often went unheard. In the summer of 1974, Mandy River arrives in London to make a fresh start and begins working as nanny to the children of one Lady Morven. She quickly finds herself in the midst of a bitter custody battle and the house under siege: Lord Morven is having his wife watched. According to Lady Morven, her estranged husband also has a violent streak, yet she doesn't seem the most reliable witness. Should Mandy believe her? As Mandy edges towards her tragic fate, her friend Rosemary watches from the wings - an odd girl with her own painful past and a rare gift. This time, though, she misreads the signs.The Shape of the Ruins: Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019
By Juan Gabriel Vásquez. 2015
Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2019"Like Don DeLillo's JFK-themed Libra, the novel is an intoxicating blend of fact…
and fiction" Glasgow Herald"A masterful writer" Nicole Krauss"Vasquez has succeeded García Márquez as the literary grandmaster of Colombia" Ariel Dorfman, New York Review of Books"A dazzlingly choreographed network of echoes and mirrorings" T.L.S.It takes the form of personal and formal investigations into two political assassinations - the murders of Rafael Uribe Uribe in 1914, the man who inspired García Márquez's General Buendia in One Hundred Years of Solitude, and of the charismatic Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, the man who might have been Colombia's J.F.K., gunned down on the brink of success in the presidential elections of 1948. Separated by more than 30 years, the two murders at first appear unconnected, but as the novel progresses Vásquez reveals how between them they contain the seeds of the violence that has bedevilled Colombia ever since. The Shape of the Ruins is Vásquez's most ambitious, challenging and rewarding novel to date. His previous novel, The Sound of Things Falling, won Spain's Alfaguara Prize, Italy's Von Rezzori Prize and the 2014 Dublin IMPAC literary Award. Winner of the Prémio Literário Casino da Póvoa 2018 Finalist for the Bienal de Novela Mario Vargas Llosa 2016 Finalist for the Premio Bottari Lattes Grinzane 2017 Finalist for the Prix Fémina Finalist for the Prix Médicis Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLeanFear: A brilliantly gripping and twisty psychological thriller
By Dirk Kurbjuweit. 2017
The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Irish Times Book of the Year.'Something we've not seen before in contemporary crime fiction' GUARDIAN'[An]…
uncomfortably close-to-home thriller' SUNDAY TIMES CRIME CLUB'As intellectually stimulating as it is gripping' DAILY TELEGRAPH, BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2018'Takes you right into the heart of darkness' MAIL ON SUNDAY'A must-have new read' DAILY EXPRESS'Wonderfully sinister' THE OBSERVER'Frightening' THE TIMES'Addictive' INDEPENDENT'Terrific' JOANNE HARRIS'Brilliantly done' FIONA BARTON'A great achievement' HERMAN KOCH'Claustrophobic and unsettling' BBC NEWS'[A] creepy tale of obsession' SUNDAY MIRROR'An unsettling tale of merciless self-scrutiny' RENEE KNIGHT'A terrifying study of a family threatened by the tenant living downstairs' WOMAN & HOME*********How far would you go to protect your family?Family is everything. So what if yours was being terrorised by a neighbour - a man who doesn't listen to reason, whose actions become more erratic and sinister with each passing day?You go to the police, but they can't help you. You become afraid to leave your family at home alone. But there's nothing more you can do to protect them.Or is there...?FEAR is a brilliantly grippling, original psychological thriller - for fans of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL and THE DINNER.-------------------------FEAR is translated from the German by Imogen TaylorPortrait Of A Man
By Georges Perec. 2015
Gaspard Winckler, master forger, is trapped in a basement studio on the outskirts of Paris, with his paymaster's blood on…
his hands. The motive for this murder? A perversion of artistic ambition. After a lifetime lived in the shadows, he has strayed too close to the sun. Fittingly for such an enigmatic writer, Portrait of a Man is both Perec's first novel and his last. Frustrated in his efforts to find a publisher, he put it aside, telling a friend: 'I'll go back to it in ten years when it'll turn into a masterpiece, or else I'll wait in my grave until one of my faithful exegetes comes across it in an old trunk.' An apt coda to one of the brightest literary careers of the twentieth century, it is - in the words of David Bellos, the 'faithful exegete' who brought it to light - 'connected by a hundred threads to every part of the literary universe that Perec went on to create - but it's not like anything else that he wrote.To Cook a Bear: A Novel
By Mikael Niemi. 2021
"So much to relish here . . . the plot is gripping, there's a beautifully handled thread on reading and…
writing, and the writing is just lovely!" DIANE SETTERFIELD, author of Once Upon A River"The year's most memorable narrator . . . An unusual and intriguing crime story" SUNDAY TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR"Niemi succeeds in constructing a story that works as a murder mystery and as a compelling study of a dangerously inward-looking community" SUNDAY TIMES"A riveting, psychologically astute mystery . . . It is not to be missed" BOOKLIST"An original and gripping crime story" THE TIMES**NOW SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER**It is 1852, and in Sweden's far north, deep in the Arctic Circle, charismatic preacher and Revivalist Lars Levi Læstadius impassions a poverty-stricken congregation with visions of salvation. But local leaders have reason to resist a shift to temperance over alcohol.Jussi, the young Sami boy Læstadius has rescued from destitution and abuse, becomes the preacher's faithful disciple on long botanical treks to explore the flora and fauna. Læstadius also teaches him to read and write - and to love and fear God. When a milkmaid goes missing deep in the forest, the locals suspect a predatory bear is at large. A second girl is attacked, and the sheriff is quick to offer a reward for the bear's capture. Using early forensics and daguerreotype, Læstadius and Jussi find clues that point to a far worse killer on the loose, even as they are unaware of the evil closing in around them. To Cook a Bear explores how communities turn inwards, how superstition can turn to violence, and how the power of language can be transformative in a richly fascinating mystery."Superb suspense . . . Simply a great literary experience!" V.G. (Sweden) "A masterpiece of narrative" La Vanguardia (Spain)"A philosophical novel, a crime novel, a historical novel and a coming-of-age story complement one another" La Stampa (Italy)"One is transported into a strange time and a fascinating world that is both beautiful and brutal" Politiken (Denmark)"Formidable delivery . . . Unlike anything else you have read . . . An incredible novel" AdresseavisenTranslated from the Swedish by Deborah Bragan-TurnerCall Him Mine: A Telegraph Thriller of the Year
By Tim MacGabhann. 2019
A TELEGRAPH THRILLER OF THE YEAR 'A wild ride' Ian Rankin'Tough and uncompromising: you'll be glad you read it' Lee…
Child'Hilarious, gripping, poetic. I loved it' Adrian McKinty, author of The Chain 'Gripping from beginning to end' Independent'Intoxicating and chilling' Observer 'Pacy and exciting' Daily Telegraph'Vivid and lyrical' Guardian'MacGabhann paints an extraordinarily vivid picture of Mexico, in all its seething, sweltering madness and beauty' Irish Independent Nobody asked us to look.Every day, every since, I still wish we hadn't. Jaded reporter Andrew and his photographer boyfriend, Carlos, are sick of sifting the dregs of Mexico's drug war: from cartel massacres to corrupt politicians, they think they've seen it all.But when they find a body even the police are too scared to look at, what started out as just another assignment becomes the sort of story all reporters dream of... ...until Carlos pushes for answers too fast, and winds up murdered, leaving Andrew grief-stricken and flailing for answers, justice, and revenge.The Natural Way of Things: 'The Handmaid's Tale for our age' (Economist)
By Charlotte Wood. 2015
'Savage: think Atwood in the outback' Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train'An unforgettable reading experience' Liane Moriarty,…
author of Big Little Lies'Ferocious... recalls the early Elena Ferrante' NPR'A masterpiece' Guardian'Devastating' EconomistShe hears her own thick voice deep inside her ears when she says, 'I need to know where I am.'The man stands there, tall and narrow, hand still on the doorknob, surprised.He says, almost in sympathy, 'Oh, sweetie. You need to know what you are.'"Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in a brokendownproperty in the middle of a desert.Strangers to each other, they have no idea where they are or how they came to be therewith eight other girls, their heads shaved, guarded by two inept yet vicious jailers.Doing hard labour under a sweltering sun, the prisoners soon learn what links them: ineach girl's past is a sexual scandal with a powerful man.They pray for rescue but as the hours turn into days and the days into weeks and months,it becomes clear only the girls can rescue themselves. Winner, 2016 Stella PrizeWinner, 2016 Indie Book of the Year AwardWinner, Fiction Book of the Year, 2016 Indie Book AwardWinner, 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Award for FictionWinner, Reader's Choice, 2016 ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year Shortlisted, 2016 Miles Franklin Literary AwardShortlisted, 2016 ABA Nielsen BookData Booksellers Choice AwardLonglisted, 2017 International Dublin Literary AwardWhat's Left of Me is Yours
By Stephanie Scott. 2020
A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE DAILY MAIL AND WOMAN AND HOMEA New York Times 'Editor's Pick'One of the…
Observer's Ten Best Debut Novelists of 2020Shortlisted for the Author's Club First Novel AwardLonglisted for the Jhalak PrizeLonglisted for the CWA John Creasy New Blood Dagger'Enrapturing... This richly imagined novel considers the many permutations of love and what we are capable of doing in its name' New York Times'A brilliant debut' Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard'You'll have the heart rate of an Olympic hurdler' Sunday Express'I read it with my heart in my throat' Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton 'An exquisitely crafted masterpiece you'll be pressing into the hands of others' Woman & Home 'An intoxicatingly atmospheric mystery' Daily Mail'Dark, addictive and eye-opening, this is a brilliant debut' StylistA gripping debut set in modern-day Tokyo and inspired by a true crime, What's Left of Me Is Yours follows a young woman's search for the truth about her mother's life - and her murder.In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the wakaresaseya (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings.When Sato hires Kaitaro, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Sato has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitaro's job is to do exactly that - until he does it too well.While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitaro fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter Sumiko's life.Told from alternating points of view and across the breathtaking landscapes of Japan, What's Left of Me Is Yours explores the thorny psychological and moral grounds of the actions we take in the name of love, asking where we draw the line between passion and possession.Nevada Days (MacLehose Press Editions #5)
By Bernardo Atxaga. 2017
Nevada Days is a fictionalised account of Atxaga's nine months' stay as writer-in-residence at the Centre for Basque Studies at…
the University of Nevada. He is accompanied by his wife, Ángela, who is also doing research there, and by their two daughters. During their first few weeks, the family encounter a strange mapache (racoon), which is always staring at them from the garden, a flight of helicopters immediately overhead, a black widow spider, a warning about bears, a party of prisoners in the desert, a lake that is somehow far too calm and too blue, and, not long into their stay, the kidnap and murder of a young girl living in the house right next door.Atxaga tells us about all these strange encounters, and about his colleagues at the university, about the trips the family make to California and across the Sierra Nevada and to Lake Tahoe, but this narrative is also interspersed with accounts of his dreams, with stories from his past.Nevada Days seductively weaves together past and present, and shows us how deeply marked we are by experience and history and relationships, however fleeting or enduring, and reminds us what a very strange thing life is.Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull CostaSeya's Song
By Ron Hirschi. 1992
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse: A Novel
By Louise Erdrich. 1954
A New York Times Notable BookFor more than a half century, Father Damien Modeste has served his beloved Native American…
tribe, the Ojibwe, on the remote reservation of Little No Horse. Now, nearing the end of his life, Father Damien dreads the discovery of his physical identity, for he is a woman who has lived as a man. To further complicate his quiet existence, a troubled colleague comes to the reservation to investigate the life of the perplexing, possibly false saint Sister Leopolda. Father Damien alone knows the strange truth of Leopolda's piety, but these facts are bound up in his own secret. He is faced with the most difficult decision: Should he tell all and risk everything . . . or manufacture a protective history for Leopolda, though he believes her wonder-working is motivated solely by evil?In a masterwork that both deepens and enlarges the world of her previous novels set on the same reservation, Louise Erdrich captures the essence of a time and the spirit of a woman who felt compelled by her beliefs to serve her people as a priest. The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse is a work of an avid heart, a writer's writer, and a storytelling genius.Serial
By Jim Lusby. 2002
'This is the real Ireland, where pleasure and pain are inextricably linked' Val McDermidA brilliant break-through crime novel from one…
of the most respected names in the business...SERIAL opens with a haunting first person narrative. A middle-aged male describes picking up a lone girl hitchhiker. Within pages however, her voice disappears from the scene and the man is alone once again...Days later, the body of a man is discovered and within his pockets lies the typed sheets of that first narrative. The Gardai follow the text closely and deduce that the hitchhiker must have been murdered as well. They swiftly find her mutilated body. But this is only the beginning of the mystery. The police are convinced that the two murders are by the same killer. But the first seems to have been committed by a man, the second by a woman... Who is the hunter and who is the victim? The female detective, Kristina Galetti, has her thoughts, but in the end the decision might come down to who best knows the nature of the human soul.As the investigation intensifies and Galetti comes under increasing public and political pressure, the split between her and her recalcitrant colleague threatens to allow this vicious, pathological killer to walk free...