A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-century midwife who investigates a shocking murder that unhinges her small community. Maine, 1789: The Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice. Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As the local midwife and healer, Martha is good at keeping secrets. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, every...

"When Dr. Croft takes in orphan Eleanor Beady, he doesn't realize that he's gained an apprentice. Raised amidst Croft's experiments, "Nora" becomes his most trusted assistant-an unthinkable and unlawful pursuit for a woman. Nora helps Croft's groundbreaking research and his clinic gain recognition, and she finds she doesn't mind working in the background, as long as she can continue to hone her skills. But the arrival of a new surgical resident threatens...

Ecologist, feminist, and mystic before these terms became popular, Mary Austin knew the desert as few human beings have known it. The Land of Little Rain, her first book, is an acknowledged classic of Southwestern literature. It describes the plant, animal, and human life of the border region of Southern California and Arizona, land of the yucca, the coyote, and the buzzard, inhabited by miners, vaqueros, and Shoshone and Paiute Indians.--From publisher...

Jane Austen's unfinished novel Sanditon (1817) tells the story of a quaint seaside village and its inhabitants. Charlotte Heywood is invited by Mr. and Mrs. Parker to stay the summer with them at Sanditon, where Mr. Parker spent his youth and where he now wants to create a tourist resort. While there, Charlotte gets to know and observe the many colorful residents of Sanditon, including the wealthy, twice-widowed Lady Denham; her ward, Clara Crereton,...

Over fifty stunning illustrations from acclaimed artist Christian Birmingham bring this treasured classic new life. When Black Beauty was born one sweet spring day, he could not have imagined the life ahead of him. Following his mother's advice to do his work with a good will, he enjoys the adventures of country and city life, makes new friends, and suffers from the cruelty and greed of his human masters. Beauty faces each challenge with bravery and...

A true-life novel about Lily Casey Smith (the author's grandmother) who at age six helped her father break horses, at age fifteen left home to teach in a frontier town, and later as a wife and mother runs a vast ranch in Arizona where she survived tornadoes, droughts, floods, the Great Depression, and the most heartbreaking personal tragedy--but despite a life of hardscrabble drudgery still remains a woman of indomitable spirit.

Mariah Aubrey lives in an abandoned gatehouse on a distant relative's estate, where she supports herself and her servant by writing novels in secret, and when Captain Matthew Bryant leases the estate, she is attracted to him.

Things are looking up for seven-year-old Bertie Pollock. The arrival of his spirited grandmother and the absence of his meddlesome mother--who is currently running a book club in a Bedouin harem (don't ask)--bring unforeseen blessings: no psychotherapy, no Italian lessons, and no yoga classes. Meanwhile, surprises await Scotland Street's grown-ups. Matthew makes a discovery that could be a major windfall for his family, but also presents a worrisome...