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| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Cloud Cuckoo Land Anthony Doerr, 2021-09-28 THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST ‘A dazzling epic of love, war and the joy of books’ Guardian |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Memory Wall Anthony Doerr, 2010-07-13 In the wise and beautiful second collection from the acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning #1 New York Times bestselling author of All the Light We Cannot See, and Cloud Cuckoo Land, Doerr writes about the big questions, the imponderables, the major metaphysical dreads, and he does it fearlessly (The New York Times Book Review). Set on four continents, Anthony Doerr's new stories are about memory, the source of meaning and coherence in our lives, the fragile thread that connects us to ourselves and to others. Every hour, says Doerr, all over the globe, an infinite number of memories disappear. Yet at the same time children, surveying territory that is entirely new to them, push back the darkness, form fresh memories, and remake the world. In the luminous and beautiful title story, a young boy in South Africa comes to possess an old woman's secret, a piece of the past with the power to redeem a life. In The River Nemunas, a teenage orphan moves from Kansas to Lithuania to live with her grandfather, and discovers a world in which myth becomes real. Village 113, winner of an O'Henry Prize, is about the building of the Three Gorges Dam and the seed keeper who guards the history of a village soon to be submerged. And in Afterworld, the radiant, cathartic final story, a woman who escaped the Holocaust is haunted by visions of her childhood friends in Germany, yet finds solace in the tender ministrations of her grandson. Every story in Memory Wall is a reminder of the grandeur of life--of the mysterious beauty of seeds, of fossils, of sturgeon, of clouds, of radios, of leaves, of the breathtaking fortune of living in this universe. Doerr's language, his witness, his imagination, and his humanity are unparalleled in fiction today. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Reading Group Choices Reading Group Choices, 2008 |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Shell Collector Anthony Doerr, 2011-01-04 In this astonishingly assured, exquisitely crafted debut collection, Anthony Doerr takes readers from the African coast to the suburbs of Ohio, from sideshow pageantry to harsh wilderness survival, charting a vast and varied emotional landscape. Like the best storytellers, Doerr explores the human condition in all its manifestations: metamorphosis, grief, fractured relationships, and slowly mending hearts. Most dazzling is Doerr's gift for conjuring nature in both its beautiful abundance and crushing power. Some of his characters contend with tremendous hardship; some discover unique gifts; all are united by their ultimate deference to the mysteries of their respective landscapes. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr, 2014-05-06 *NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES—from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti* Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the Resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge. Doerr’s “stunning sense of physical detail and gorgeous metaphors” (San Francisco Chronicle) are dazzling. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, he illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is a magnificent, deeply moving novel from a writer “whose sentences never fail to thrill” (Los Angeles Times). |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Beyond the Point Claire Gibson, 2019-04-02 Three women enter the demanding West Point military academy in this “inspiring tribute to female friendship and female courage” (Kate Quinn, New York Times–bestselling author of The Alice Network). Duty. Honor. Country. That’s West Point’s motto, and every cadet who passes through its stone gates vows to live it. But on the eve of 9/11, as Dani, Hannah and Avery face four grueling years ahead, they realize they’ll only survive if they do it together. With athletic talent and a brilliant mind, Dani navigates West Point’s predominantly male environment with wit and confidence, breaking stereotypes and embracing new friends. Hannah’s grandfather, a legendary Army general, warns her about the dangers ahead, but she’s determined to let faith guide her path—and when that path leads to her soul mate, the future looks perfect. Wild child Avery doesn’t mind breaking a few rules (or hearts) along the way. But she can’t outpace her self-doubt, and the harder she tries, the further it leads her down a treacherous path. These three women know that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. But soon, that adage no longer rings true—for their future, or their friendship. As they’re pulled in different directions, will their hard-forged bond prevail or shatter? |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Aging Faithfully Alice Fryling, 2021-11 Would you like to grow in life-giving ways as you age? Do you have the courage to let go of former ways of thinking to receive God's love and life in new ways? As we age, we experience the loss of physical stamina, independence, and career fulfillment. Yet within each of these losses is a holy invitation to grow. God calls us to let go of our need for accomplishment and embrace the gift of fruitfulness so that we might be transformed in this final season of our lives. In Aging Faithfully, spiritual director Alice Fryling explores how to navigate the journey of retirement, lifestyle changes, and new limitations. In this season of life, we are invited to hold both grief and hope, to acknowledge ways of thinking that no longer represent who we are, and to receive peace in the midst of our fears. We all age differently, and God calls each of us to new spiritual birth as we mature. When we embrace the aging process, we grow closer to God and experience his grace as he renews us from within. Whether you are approaching the beginning, middle, or end of your senior years, you are invited. Come and be transformed. Aging Faithfully includes questions for group discussion and suggestions for personal meditation. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Designing Sound Andy Farnell, 2010-08-20 A practitioner's guide to the basic principles of creating sound effects using easily accessed free software. Designing Sound teaches students and professional sound designers to understand and create sound effects starting from nothing. Its thesis is that any sound can be generated from first principles, guided by analysis and synthesis. The text takes a practitioner's perspective, exploring the basic principles of making ordinary, everyday sounds using an easily accessed free software. Readers use the Pure Data (Pd) language to construct sound objects, which are more flexible and useful than recordings. Sound is considered as a process, rather than as data—an approach sometimes known as “procedural audio.” Procedural sound is a living sound effect that can run as computer code and be changed in real time according to unpredictable events. Applications include video games, film, animation, and media in which sound is part of an interactive process. The book takes a practical, systematic approach to the subject, teaching by example and providing background information that offers a firm theoretical context for its pragmatic stance. [Many of the examples follow a pattern, beginning with a discussion of the nature and physics of a sound, proceeding through the development of models and the implementation of examples, to the final step of producing a Pure Data program for the desired sound. Different synthesis methods are discussed, analyzed, and refined throughout.] After mastering the techniques presented in Designing Sound, students will be able to build their own sound objects for use in interactive applications and other projects |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: About Grace Anthony Doerr, 2011-12-21 About Grace is the brilliant debut novel from Anthony Doerr, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning All The Light We Cannot See. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Good Sister Sally Hepworth, 2021-04-15 'There's only been one time that Rose couldn't stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life.' Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be . . . dangerous. When Rose discovers that she cannot fall pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple. Fern's mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets that she long thought were buried. **************************************************** Praise for Sally Hepworth: 'Women's fiction at its finest' LIANE MORIARTY 'Clever, chilling and beautifully crafted' ADELE PARKS 'The characters are so beautifully drawn and it was an emotional read, but I couldn't put it down' HEIDI PARKS 'Sally demonstrates that you don't need outlandish situations and monstrous characters to write a thoroughly engrossing, suspenseful thriller, and her writing feels so effortless' EMMA CURTIS 'It's not often that such a gripping page-turner can be so moving' SARAH NAUGHTON 'Cleverly plotted and completely compelling' NICOLA MORIARTY |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Migrations Charlotte McConaghy, 2021-07-06 'An extraordinary novel... as beautiful and as wrenching as anything I've ever read' Emily St. John Mandel A dark past. An impossible journey. The will to survive. Franny Stone is determined to go to the end of the earth, following the last of the Arctic terns on what may be their final migration to Antarctica. As animal populations plummet, Franny talks her way onto one of the few remaining boats heading south. But as she and the eccentric crew travel further from shore and safety, the dark secrets of Franny's life begin to unspool. Haunted by love and violence, Franny must confront what she is really running towards - and from. From the west coast of Ireland to Australia and remote Greenland, this is an ode to the wild places and creatures now threatened, and an epic, moving story of the possibility of hope against all odds. ______________ READERS LOVE MIGRATIONS: 'Wrenchingly beautiful' 'Visceral, heart-breaking' 'Simply phenomenal' 'Raw and gripping' 'Riveting' 'Here's your next favourite' 'A story...about love, passion, wandering' *Previously published as The Last Migration* |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Library of Lost and Found Phaedra Patrick, 2019-03-26 A librarian’s discovery of a mysterious book sparks the journey of a lifetime in the delightful novel from the author of The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper. 'A gem of a book. I loved it.' Sarah Morgan, author of The Christmas Book Club |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Four Seasons in Rome Anthony Doerr, 2008-06-10 Documents the award-winning writer's experiences of living, working, and raising twin sons in Rome during the year following his receipt of a prestigious Rome Prize stipend, a period during which he attended the vigil of the dying John Paul II, brought his children on a snowy visit to the Pantheon, and befriended numerous locals. Reprint. 35,000 first printing. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Let's Get Back to the Party Zak Salih, 2021-02-16 “A gorgeously written meditation on being a gay man in America now . . . A raw and captivating debut.” —BookPage Recommended by: O, the Oprah Magazine * BuzzFeed * The Millions * Cosmopolitan * Electric Literature * Literary Hub * Harper's Bazaar * Lambda Literary * LGBTQ Reads * Passport magazine * Paperback Paris * Debutiful * Book Riot * The Bay Area Reporter * The Advocate It is 2015, weeks after the Supreme Court marriage equality ruling. A high school art history teacher, Sebastian Mote envies his queer students and their freedom to live openly the youth he lost to fear and shame. When he runs into his childhood friend Oscar Burnham at a wedding in Washington, DC, he can’t help but see it as a second chance. Now thirty-five, the men haven’t seen each other in more than a decade. But Oscar has no interest in their shared history, nor in the sense of belonging Sebastian craves. Instead, he’s outraged by what he sees as the death of gay culture: bars overrun with bachelorette parties, friends coupling off and having babies. For Oscar, conformity isn’t peace, it’s surrender. While Oscar and Sebastian struggle to find their place in a rapidly changing world, each is drawn into a cross-generational friendship that treads the line between envy and obsession: Sebastian with one of his students, Oscar with an older icon of the AIDS era. And as they collide again and again, both men must reckon not just with each other but with themselves. Provocative, moving, and rich with sharply drawn characters, Let’s Get Back to the Party introduces an exciting and contemporary new talent. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Lady Clementine Marie Benedict, 2020-09-09 |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: On a Night of a Thousand Stars Andrea Yaryura Clark, 2022-03-01 In this moving, emotional narrative of love and resilience, a young couple confronts the start of Argentina's Dirty War in the 1970s, and a daughter searches for truth twenty years later. New York, 1998. Santiago Larrea, a wealthy Argentine diplomat, is holding court alongside his wife, Lila, and their daughter, Paloma, a college student and budding jewelry designer, at their annual summer polo match and soiree. All seems perfect in the Larreas’ world—until an unexpected party guest from Santiago's university days shakes his usually unflappable demeanor. The woman's cryptic comments spark Paloma’s curiosity about her father’s past, of which she knows little. When the family travels to Buenos Aires for Santiago's UN ambassadorial appointment, Paloma is determined to learn more about his life in the years leading up to the military dictatorship of 1976. With the help of a local university student, Franco Bonetti, an activist member of H.I.J.O.S.—a group whose members are the children of the desaparecidos, or the “disappeared,” men and women who were forcibly disappeared by the state during Argentina’s “Dirty War”—Paloma unleashes a chain of events that not only leads her to question her family and her identity, but also puts her life in danger. In compelling fashion, On a Night of a Thousand Stars speaks to relationships, morality, and identity during a brutal period in Argentinian history, and the understanding—and redemption—people crave in the face of tragedy. Includes a Reading Group Guide. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Musical Chairs Amy Poeppel, 2021-04-13 A novel about modern family life with all of its discord and harmony-- |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Golden Hour Beatriz Williams, 2019-08-15 From the New York Times bestselling author: a dazzling WWII epic spanning London, New York and the Bahamas and the most infamous couple of the age, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Every Bone a Prayer Ashley Blooms, 2020-08-04 Blooms has taken the voice and names of Appalachia, tended, and evolved them, and created a book that is at once haunting and hopeful.—NPR Praised by BuzzFeed, Good Housekeeping, POPSUGAR, Bustle, and more! Misty's holler looks like any of the thousands of hollers that fork through the Appalachian Mountains. But Misty knows her home is different. She may be only ten, but she hears things. Even the crawdads in the creek have something to say, if you listen. All that Misty's sister Penny wants to talk about are the strange objects that start appearing outside their trailer. The grown-ups mutter about sins and punishment, but that doesn't scare Misty. Not like the hurtful thing that's been happening to her, the hurtful thing that is becoming part of her. Ever since her neighbor William cornered her in the barn, she must figure out how to get back to the Misty she was before—the Misty who wasn't afraid to listen. This is the story of one tough-as-nails girl whose choices are few but whose fight is boundless, as her coping becomes a battle cry for everyone around her. Perfect for fans of Southern coming-of-age stories like Where the Crawdads Sing and If The Creek Don't Rise, Every Bone a Prayer is a beautifully honest exploration of healing and of hope. Praise for Every Bone a Prayer: Haunting and healing, Every Bone A Prayer is a powerful debut that will leave its mark on readers' hearts.—Kim Michele Richardson, New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek This is a book and a writer I highly recommend.—Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard out of Carolina This is the kind of book we need to set literary expectations for a new decade. It's so textured, so layered with love and so wonderfully terrifying, intimate and magical.—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir Searing and soothing, honest and elusive, Every Bone a Prayer is a gift. It's the pure truth, told slant.—Alix E. Harrow, author of The Once and Future Witches |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The River Home Hannah Richell, 2020-02-25 The river can take you home. But the river can also drag you under... 'It's something she learned years ago - the hard way - and that she knows she will never forget: even the sweetest fruit will fall and rot into the earth, eventually. No matter how deep you bury the pain, the bones of it will rise up to haunt you ... like the echoes of a summer's night, like the river flowing relentlessly on its course.' Margot Sorrell didn't want to go home. She had spent all her adult life trying not to look behind. But a text from her sister Lucy brought her back to Somerset. 'I need you.' As Margot, Lucy and their eldest sister, Eve, reunite in the house they grew up in beside the river, the secrets they keep from each other, and from themselves, refuse to stay hidden. A wedding brings them together but long-simmering resentments threaten to tear the family apart. No one could imagine the way this gathering would change them all forever. And through the sorrow they are forced to confront, there is a chance that healing will also come. But only if the truth is told. The new novel from bestselling author Hannah Richell. A wise and emotionally powerful story of a broken family and the courage it takes to heal. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox Maggie O'Farrell, 2009-11-12 From the Costa Award winning, bestselling author of THIS MUST BE THE PLACE and I AM, I AM, I AM, comes an intense, breathtakingly accomplished story of a woman's life stolen, and reclaimed. 'Unputdownable' Ali Smith Edinburgh in the 1930s. The Lennox family is having trouble with its youngest daughter. Esme is outspoken, unconventional, and repeatedly embarrasses them in polite society. Something will have to be done. Years later, a young woman named Iris Lockhart receives a letter informing her that she has a great-aunt in a psychiatric unit who is about to be released. Iris has never heard of Esme Lennox and the one person who should know more, her grandmother Kitty, seems unable to answer Iris's questions. What could Esme have done to warrant a lifetime in an institution? And how is it possible for a person to be so completely erased from a family's history? |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Desert Queen Janet Wallach, 2015-11-12 The life of Gertrude Bell is now the subject of the major motion picture Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman, James Franco and Damian Lewis Turning away from privileged Victorian Britain, Gertrude Bell explored, mapped and excavated the world of the Arabs, winning the trust of Arab sheiks and chieftains along the way. When the First World War erupted and the British needed the loyalty of Arab leaders, Gertrude Bell provided the intelligence for T.E. Lawrence's military activities. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East, and was generally considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire. In this major reassessment of Bell's life, Janet Wallach reveals a woman whose achievements and independent spirit were especially remarkable for her times, and who brought the same passion and intensity to her explorations as she did to her rich and romantic life. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: American King Sierra Simone, 2017-10-31 They say that every tragic hero has a fatal flaw, a secret sin, a tiny stitch sewn into his future since birth. And here I am. My sins are no longer secret. My flaws have never been more fatal. And I’ve never been closer to tragedy than I am now. I am a man who loves, a man whose love demands much in return. I am a king, a king who was foolish enough to build a kingdom on the bones of the past. I am a husband and a lover and a soldier and a father and a president. And I will survive this. Long live the king. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Air Between Us Deborah Johnson, 2009-10-13 Revere, Mississippi, with its population of 20,000 and sinking is not unlike most Southern towns in the sixties. Black people live on one side of town and whites live on the other. The two rarely mix, or so everyone believes. But the truth is brought to the forefront when Billy Ray Puckett, a white man wounded while hunting, shows up at the segregated Doctors Hospital. No one thinks much of his death—just a typical hunting accident—until the sheriff orders an investigation. Suddenly the connections between whites and blacks are revealed to be deeper than anyone expected, which makes the town's struggle with integration that much more complicated. Dr. Cooper Connelly, who hails from a prominent white family, takes an unexpectedly progressive view toward school integration; while the esteemed Dr. Reese Jackson, so prominent he has garnered an Ebony profile, tries to stay above the fray. With fully realized characters and a mystery that will keep readers turning pages until the end, The Air Between Us is a heart-filled, endearing tale. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Diaspora Greg Egan, 2015-01-06 A quantum Brave New World from the boldest and most wildly speculative writer of his generation. Since the Introdus in the twenty-first century, humanity has reconfigured itself drastically. Most chose immortality, joining the polises to become conscious software. Others opted for gleisners: disposable, renewable robotic bodies that remain in contact with the physical world of force and friction. Many of these have left the solar system forever in fusion-drive starships. And there are the holdouts: the fleshers left behind in the muck and jungle of Earth—some devolved into dream apes, others cavorting in the seas or the air—while the statics and bridgers try to shape out a roughly human destiny. But the complacency of the citizens is shattered when an unforeseen disaster ravages the fleshers and reveals the possibility that the polises themselves might be at risk from bizarre astrophysical processes that seem to violate fundamental laws of nature. The orphan Yatima, a digital being grown from a mind seed, joins a group of citizens and flesher refugees in a search for the knowledge that will guarantee their safety—a search that puts them on the trail of the ancient and elusive Transmuters, who have the power to reshape subatomic particles, and to cross into the macrocosmos, where the universe we know is nothing but a speck in the higher-dimensional vacuum. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Here is the Beehive Sarah Crossan, 2020-08-20 SHORTLISTED FOR THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARD What would you do if you lost someone the world never knew was yours? For three years, Ana has been consumed by an affair with Connor, a client at her law firm. Their love has been consigned to hotel rooms and dark corners of pubs, their relationship kept hidden from the world. So the morning that Ana's company receives a call to say that Connor is dead, her secret grief has nowhere to go. Desperate for an outlet, Ana seeks out the shadowy figure who has always stood just beyond her reach - Connor's wife Rebecca... 'Utterly gripping' RODDY DOYLE 'A triumph – crackling with psychological and sexual ambiguity' JULIE MYERSON, OBSERVER 'This book is just sublime... I loved every page' CAITRIONA BALFE 'Unmissable ... Incredible' STYLIST 'Amazing ... I read it in one sitting, completely swept up in Ana's fragmented narrative' EMMA HEALEY 'Dark, riveting, powerful' ELIZABETH DAY |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Cloud Atlas David Mitchell, 2012-11-22 CLOUD ATLAS, David Mitchell's bestselling Man Booker Prize-shortlisted novel which was also one of Richard & Judy's 100 Books of the Decade, has now been adapted for film. In this enhanced edition you can read the original novel along with a new essay by David Mitchell about the transformation of his novel into a film, and watch four exclusive videos about the book and film. The major motion picture, directed by Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, and Andy Wachowski, stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent Hugo Weaving, Doona Bae, James D'Arcy, Zhou Xun, Keith David and Hugh Grant. The novel features six characters in interlocking stories, each interrupting the one before it: a reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan's California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified dinery server on death-row; and Zachry, a young Pacific islander witnessing the nightfall of science and civilisation. The narrators of CLOUD ATLAS hear each other's echoes down the corridor of history and their destinies are changed in ways great and small. Mitchell's other novels are GHOSTWRITTEN, NUMBER9DREAM, BLACK SWAN GREEN and A THOUSAND AUTUMS OF JACOB DE ZOET, all published by Sceptre. www.sceptrebooks.com Facebook: Sceptre Books Twitter: SceptreBooks |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Woman In The Green Dress Tea Cooper, 2019-01-01 For readers who loved Remarkable Creatures, The Naturalist's Daughter and The Birdman's Wife comes The Woman in the Green Dress... 1853 Mogo Creek, NSW Della Atterton, bereft at the loss of her parents, is holed up in the place she loves best: the beautiful Hawkesbury in New South Wales. Happiest following the trade her father taught her, taxidermy, Della has no wish to return to Sydney. But the unexpected arrival of Captain Stefan von Richter on a quest to retrieve what could be Australia's first opal, precipitates Della's return to Sydney and her Curio Shop of Wonders, where she discovers her enigmatic aunt, Cordelia, is selling more than curiosities to collectors. Strange things are afoot and Della, a fly in a spider's web, is caught up in events with unimaginable consequences… 1919 Sydney, NSW When London teashop waitress Fleur Richards inherits land and wealth in Australia from her husband, Hugh, killed in the war, she wants nothing to do with it. After all, accepting it will mean Hugh really is dead. But Hugh's lawyer is insistent, and so she finds herself ensconced in the Berkeley Hotel on Bent St, Sydney, the reluctant owner of a Hawkesbury property and an old curio shop, now desolate and boarded up. As the real story of her inheritance unravels, Fleur finds herself in the company of a damaged returned soldier Kip, holding a thread that takes her deep into the past, a thread that could unravel a mystery surrounding an opal and a woman in a green dress; a green that is the colour of envy, the colour buried deep within an opal, the colour of poison… |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Story of Egypt Joann Fletcher, 2015-09-24 The epic 4000-year story of the world's greatest civilisation from a world-leading Egyptologist The history of Egypt is full of spectacular sites and epic stories, an evolving society rich in heroes and villains, inventors and intellectuals, artisans and pioneers. Now Professor Joann Fletcher pulls together the complete Story of Egypt - charting the rise and fall of the ancient Egyptians while putting their whole world into a context that we can all relate to. Joann Fletcher uncovers some fascinating revelations, from Egypt's oldest art to the beginnings of mummification almost two thousand years earlier than previously believed. She also looks at the women who became pharaohs on at least 10 occasions, and the evidence that the Egyptians built the first Suez Canal, circumnavigated Africa and won victories at the original Olympic games. From Ramses II's penchant for dying his greying hair to how we know Montuhotep's wife bit her nails and the farmer Baki liked eating in bed, Joann Fletcher brings the history and people of ancient Egypt alive, as nobody else can. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett Annie Lyons, 2020-09-08 USA TODAY BESTSELLER! One adorably British odd couple . . . Charming. — People “An exquisitely poignant tale of life, friendship and facing death . . . heart-breaking yet ultimately uplifting . . Everyone should read this book.” — Ruth Hogan, author of Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel Infused with the emotional power of Me Before You and the irresistible charm of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Be Frank with Me, a moving and joyous novel about an elderly woman ready to embrace death and the little girl who reminds her what it means to live. It's never too late to start living. Eudora Honeysett is done with this noisy, moronic world—all of it. She has witnessed the indignities and suffering of old age and has lived a full life. At eighty-five, she isn’t going to leave things to chance. Her end will be on her terms. With one call to a clinic in Switzerland, a plan is set in motion. Then she meets ten-year-old Rose Trewidney, a whirling, pint-sized rainbow of sparkling cheer. All Eudora wants is to be left alone to set her affairs in order. Instead, she finds herself embarking on a series of adventures with the irrepressible Rose and their affable neighbor, the recently widowed Stanley—afternoon tea, shopping sprees, trips to the beach, birthday celebrations, pizza parties. While the trio of unlikely BFFs grow closer and anxiously await the arrival of Rose’s new baby sister, Eudora is reminded of her own childhood—of losing her father during World War II and the devastating impact it had on her entire family. In reflecting on her past, Eudora realizes she must come to terms with what lies ahead. But now that her joy for life has been rekindled, how can she possibly say goodbye? |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Grace Year Kim Liggett, 2020-02-06 '. . . seethes with love and brutality, violence and hope . . . a remarkable and timely story of the bonds between women' Sabaa Tahir 'An incredibly important and empowering read' Natasha Ngan _____________________________________________ THE RESISTANCE STARTS HERE. No one speaks of the grace year. It's forbidden. We're told we have the power to lure grown men from their beds, make boys lose their minds, and drive the wives mad with jealousy. That's why we're banished for our sixteenth year, to release our magic into the wild before we're allowed to return to civilisation. But I don't feel powerful. I don't feel magical. Tierney James lives in an isolated village where girls are banished at sixteen to the northern forest to brave the wilderness - and each other - for a year. They must rid themselves of their dangerous magic before returning purified and ready to marry - if they're lucky. It is forbidden to speak of the grace year, but even so every girl knows that the coming year will change them - if they survive it... A critically acclaimed page-turning feminist dystopia about a young woman trapped in an oppressive society, fighting to take control of her own life. 'Beautiful, devastating, and deeply moving' Samira Ahmed, New York Times bestselling author of Internment and Love, Hate & Other Filters 'A visceral, darkly haunting fever dream of a novel . . . I couldn't stop reading' Libba Bray, New York Times bestselling author of The Diviners and A Great and Terrible Beauty |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The God Game Danny Tobey, 2020-01-09 'Like an episode of Black Mirror written by Stephen King' John Marrs, bestselling author of The One 'Immersive, claustrophobic . . . addictive' Guardian Win and All Your Dreams Come TrueTM! ;) Charlie and his friends have entered the God Game. Tasks are delivered through their phones. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them. Charlie's money problems could be over. Vanhi can erase the one bad grade on her university application. It's all fun and games - at first. Then the threatening messages start. Obey me. Mysterious packages show up at their homes. Shadowy figures start following them. Who else is playing this game, and how far will they go to win? As Charlie looks for a way out, there's only one rule he knows for sure. If you die in the game, you die for real. 'Smart, propulsive and gripping' Harlan Coben, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Treeline Ben Rawlence, 2022-01-13 A ground-breaking and beautifully written investigation into the Arctic Treeline with an urgent environmental message. 'Evocative, wise and unflinching' Jay Griffiths, author of Wild The Arctic treeline is the frontline of climate change, where the trees have been creeping towards the pole for fifty years already. Scientists are only just beginning to understand the astonishing significance of these northern forests for all life on Earth. At the treeline, Rawlence witnesses the accelerating impact of climate change and the devastating legacies of colonialism and capitalism. But he also finds reasons for hope. Humans are creatures of the forest; we have always evolved with trees and The Treeline asks us where our co-evolution might take us next. SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES CROPPER WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 'A moving, thoughtful, deeply reported elegy for our vanishing world and a map of the one to come' Nathaniel Rich, author of Losing Earth 'A lyrical and passionate book... The Treeline is a sobering, powerful account of how trees might just save the world, as long as we are sensible enough to let them' Mail on Sunday 'Ben Rawlence circumnavigates the very top of the globe - returning with a warning, in this enthralling and wonderfully written book' Mark Lynas, author of Six Degrees |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Lincoln Highway Amor Towles, 2021-10-05 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than ONE MILLION copies sold A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick A New York Times Notable Book, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year “Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth.” —The New York Times Book Review “A classic that we will read for years to come.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Read with Jenna book club “Fantastic. Set in 1954, Towles uses the story of two brothers to show that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.” —Bill Gates “A real joyride . . . elegantly constructed and compulsively readable.” —NPR The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. “Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.” – Bill Gates |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Lost Colony A. G. Riddle, 2021-03-04 Can humanity survive on a new world? The last survivors of the human race escaped a ruined Earth. Their new homeworld--Eos--seemed perfect at first. Warm. Hospitable. Safe from the grid. But everything isn't as it seems. The first colony of settlers--from the Carthage--have disappeared. Their settlement is still there, but everyone is gone. As James digs into the mystery of the lost colony, he discovers a series of spheres, buried on Eos. Are they the key to finding the lost colonists? Or are they responsible for their deaths? Just as James is unravelling the secrets of the spheres, a storm hits Jericho City. Emma, recently elected mayor, struggles to lead her people to safety while James tries to make his way home. In the middle of the chaos, a new danger emerges--a threat no one saw coming. With time running out to save the colonists, James and Emma face their hardest choice yet in the final pulse-pounding instalment in the Long Winter trilogy. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Darkness Outside Us Eliot Schrefer, 2021-06-01 They Both Die at the End meets The Loneliest Girl in the Universe in this mind-bending sci-fi mystery and tender love story about two boys aboard a spaceship sent on a rescue mission, from two-time National Book Award finalist Eliot Schrefer. Stonewall Honor Award winner! Two boys, alone in space. Sworn enemies sent on the same rescue mission. Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor with no memory of a launch. There’s more that doesn’t add up: evidence indicates strangers have been on board, the ship’s operating system is voiced by his mother, and his handsome, brooding shipmate has barricaded himself away. But nothing will stop Ambrose from making his mission succeed—not when he’s rescuing his own sister. In order to survive the ship’s secrets, Ambrose and Kodiak will need to work together and learn to trust each other . . . especially once they discover what they are truly up against. Love might be the only way to survive. * Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books of the Year * A Booklist Editor's Choice of the Year * A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book of the Year * A YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults & Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Book of the Year * |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Golden Girl Elin Hilderbrand, 2021-06-01 In this #1 bestselling page-turner from the queen of beach reads (New York Magazine), a Nantucket novelist has one final summer to protect her secrets while her loved ones on earth learn to live without their golden girl. On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she's assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them. From the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes—with or without a nudge of help from above—while Vivi finally lets them grow without her. With all of Elin’s trademark beach scenes, mouth-watering meals, and picture-perfect homes, plus a heartfelt message—the people we lose never really leave us—Golden Girl is a beach book unlike any other. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Last Time I Saw You Elizabeth Berg, 2011-05-05 As onetime classmates meet over the course of a weekend for their high school's fortieth reunion, they discover things that will irrevocably affect the rest of their lives. For newly divorced Dorothy Shauman, it is the possibility to finally attract the attention of the class heartthrob, Pete Decker. For the ever self-reliant, ever left-out Mary Alice Mayhew, it's a chance to re-examine a painful past. For Lester Heseenpfeffer, a veterinarian and widower, it is the hope of talking shop with a fellow vet - or at least that's what he tells himself. For Candy Armstrong, the class beauty, it's the hope of finding friendship before it is too late. As Dorothy, Mary Alice, Lester, Candy, and the other classmates converge for the reunion dinner, four decades melt away: Desires and personalities from their youth re-emerge, and new discoveries are made. For so much has happened to them all. And so much can still happen. |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: Troubles in Paradise Elin Hilderbrand, 2020-10-01 FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE PERFECT COUPLE, NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES *** 'Hilderbrand's books keep getting better and better' Bookreporter 'The queen regent of the easy-breezy summer novel' New York Post *** Escape to the bright Caribbean sunshine one last time in this satisfying and page-turning conclusion to the bestselling Paradise trilogy. After uprooting her life, Irene Steele has just settled in at the villa on St. John where her husband Russ had been living a double life. But a visit from the FBI shakes her foundations, and Irene once again learns just how little she knew about the man she loved. Meanwhile, as Irene and her sons try to get on with setting up their new lives, evidence mounts that the helicopter crash that killed Russ may not have been an accident. As a storm gathers strength in the Atlantic, all will be revealed about the secrets and lies that brought Irene and her sons to St. John at last. Praise for the Paradise Series: 'What do you do once you've become Queen of the Summer Novel and mastered the art of the Christmas novel? You start a new series, of course! This Fall, the incomparable Elin Hilderbrand brings us to St. John for the first novel in her new The Paradise series... Another compulsively readable hit by Hilderbrand.' - PopSugar 'A new series from Nantucket author Elin Hilderbrant-that's set in St. John!' - Modern Mrs. Darcy 'With great verve, [Hilderbrand] has done it again with her latest novel, WINTER IN PARADISE, the first book in a planned trilogy. She is witty and engaging, and keeps her readers intrigued with a memorable set of characters... As always, she delivers a story with much detail, weaving her characters and storylines expertly... Be prepared to read a fast-paced and entertaining novel for several hours, which will keep you longing for the second book in the series.' - Bookreporter 'The perfect vacation read.' - Hasty Book List 'As she does in her books set on Nantucket, Hilderbrand excels at establishing a setting (the food! the luxury! the sea turtles!) that will inspire wanderlust...Hilderbrand is the queen of the summer blockbuster; her fans will be thrilled that she's looking to take on winter.' - Booklist 'This fast-paced novel offers the voices of several different characters, as well as a hefty load of intrigue.' - New York journal of Books |
| cloud cuckoo land discussion questions: The Virgin Blue Tracy Chevalier, 2002 The compelling story of two women, born centuries apart, and the ancestral legacy that binds them. |
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