Download or read book The Forbidden Orchid written by Sharon Biggs Waller and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-03-08 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The adventures of a British girl in China, hunting for the orchid that will save her family. Staid, responsible Elodie Buchanan is the eldest of ten sisters growing up in a small English market town in 1861. The girls barely know their father, a plant hunter usually off adventuring through China, more myth than man. Then disaster strikes: Mr. Buchanan reneges on his contract to collect an extremely rare and valuable orchid. He will be thrown into debtors’ prison while his daughters are sent to the orphanage and the workhouse. Elodie can’t stand by and see her family destroyed, so she persuades her father to return to China once more to try to hunt down the flower—only this time, despite everything she knows about her place in society, Elodie goes with him. She has never before left her village, but what starts as fear turns to wonder as she adapts to seafaring life aboard the tea clipper The Osprey, and later to the new sights, dangers, and romance of China. She comes to find that both the world and her place in it are so much bigger than she’d ever dreamed. But now, even if she can find the orchid, how can she ever go back to being the staid, responsible Elodie that everybody needs?

Download or read book The Forbidden Orchid written by Sharon Biggs Waller and published by Viking Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2016 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In 1861, Elodie sails from her home in England to China to help her father search for a rare and valuable orchid"-- Provided by publisher.

Download or read book Empress Orchid written by Anchee Min and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2004 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a master of the historical novel, Empress Orchid sweeps readers into the heart of the Forbidden City to tell the fascinating story of a young concubine who becomes China's last empress. Min introduces the beautiful Tzu Hsi, known as Orchid, and weaves an epic of a country girl who seized power through seduction, murder, and endless intrigue. When China is threatened by enemies, she alone seems capable of holding the country together. In this "absorbing companion piece to her novel Becoming Madame Mao" (New York Times), readers and reading groups will once again be transported by Min's lavish evocation of the Forbidden City in its last days of imperial glory and by her brilliant portrait of a flawed yet utterly compelling woman who survived, and ultimately dominated, a male world.

Download or read book A Mad Wicked Folly written by Sharon Biggs Waller and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-01-23 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Edwardian London, a girl dreams of being an artist, despite her family's disapproval. Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes seventeen-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist—a nearly impossible dream for a girl. After Vicky poses nude for her illicit art class, she is expelled from her French finishing school. Shamed and scandalized, her parents try to marry her off to the wealthy Edmund Carrick-Humphrey. But Vicky has other things on her mind: her clandestine application to the Royal College of Art; her participation in the suffragette movement; and her growing attraction to a working-class boy who may be her muse—or may be the love of her life. As the world of debutante balls, corsets, and high society obligations closes in around her, Vicky must figure out: just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dreams?

Download or read book The Last Empress written by Anchee Min and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Vivid and entertaining ... this is history as it plays upon the emotions. Empires crumble, hearts are broken' THE TIMES From the bestselling author of Red Azalea comes the much-anticipated sequel to Empress Orchid At the end of the nineteenth century China is rocked by foreign attacks and local rebellions. The only constant is the power wielded by one woman, Tzu Hsi, also known as Empress Orchid, who must face the perilous condition of her empire and devastating personal losses. In this sequel to the bestselling Empress Orchid, Anchee Min brings to life one of the most important figures in Chinese history, a very human leader who sacrifices all she has to protect both those she loves and her doomed empire.

Download or read book The Orchid Throne written by Jeffe Kennedy and published by St. Martin's Paperbacks. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Forgotten Empires magic is forbidden, dreams are destiny, and love is the greatest power of all...Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, the lush romantic fantasy world of the Forgotten Empires series will sweep you away. A PRISONER OF FATE As Queen of the island kingdom of Calanthe, Lia will do anything to keep her people free—and her secrets safe—from the mad tyrant who rules the mainland. Guided by a magic ring of her father’s, Lia plays the political game with the cronies the emperor sends to her island. In her heart, she knows that it’s up to her to save herself from her fate as the emperor’s bride. But in her dreams, she sees a man, one with the power to build a better world—a man whose spirit is as strong, and whose passion is as fierce as her own... A PRINCE AMONG MEN Conrí, former Crown Prince of Oriel, has built an army to overthrow the emperor. But he needs the fabled Abiding Ring to succeed. The ring that Lia holds so dear to her heart. When the two banished rulers meet face to face, neither can deny the flames of rebellion that flicker in their eyes—nor the fires of desire that draw them together. But in this broken world of shattered kingdoms, can they ever really trust each other? Can their fiery alliance defeat the shadows of evil that threaten to engulf their hearts and souls? “A lush... perilous and passionate world.”—New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Estep

Download or read book Girls on the Verge written by Sharon Biggs Waller and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2019-04-09 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Absolutely essential, as is the underlying message that girls take care of each other when no one else will." —Booklist, Starred Review A 2020 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection Girls on the Verge is an incredibly timely novel about a woman’s right to choose. Sharon Biggs Waller brings to life a narrative that has to continue to fight for its right to be told, and honored. Camille couldn't be having a better summer—she kills it as Ophelia in her community theater's production of Hamlet, catches the eye of the cutest boy in the play, and nabs a spot in a prestigious theater program. But on the very night she learns she got into the program, she also finds out she’s pregnant. She definitely can’t tell her parents. And her best friend Bea doesn’t agree with the decision Camille has made. Camille is forced to try to solve her problem alone...and the system is very much working against her. At her most vulnerable, Camille reaches out to Annabelle Ponsonby, a girl she only barely knows from the theater. Happily, Annabelle agrees to drive her wherever she needs to go. And in a last minute change of heart, Bea decides to come with. Over the course of more than a thousand miles, friendships will be tested and dreams will be challenged. But ultimately, the girls will realize that friends are the real heroes in every story. "[C]ompelling... This title offers realistic viewpoints on teenage pregnancy, along with what it is like to have the right to choose, wanting that right, and living knowing that you will be judged for having exercised it." —School Library Journal, Starred Review

Download or read book The Orchid Nursery written by Louise Katz and published by Lacuna Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fifteens of Stone House have reached Attainment: the day a girlie may Beseech for the privilege of serving as a Perfected womanidol in the Orchid Nursery. When vivacious, irreverent Pearl goes missing, pious Mica hopes fervently that her friend has been chosen for Perfection and has not, as she fears, absconded from the State. Mica feels bound by love and duty to seek Pearl - to save her from punishment if she is caught by the Ecumen or, worse, if she has left Civilisation. Mica's search will take her into a frightening physical and moral terrain where insurgents and outcasts are still fighting a strategic war against the clerical regime. But first Mica must bring herself to violate the secret-sacred space that is the Orchid Nursery. Through its youthful protagonists The Orchid Nursery explores sexual politics and the co-opting of religion to perpetrate extremes of misogyny, violence, control and obliteration of the cultural and historical record. It also sees the possibility of hope emerging from the worst kind of dystopia. "A powerful story, so visual and present it feels like a cross between a painting by Hieronymus Bosch and MCEscher ... Confronting in its truths, The Orchid Nursery's richness of language also layers it in warmth and humour." - Stephanie Smith "A superbly crafted vision of a toxic cultural wasteland. Three women: rebel, zealot, hag. Three journeys through a disintegrated future. Check current news reportage before claiming the horrors of The Orchid Nursery could never come to pass within our lifetime." - Cat Sparks "Terrifying, but so beautifully, dreamily written." - Elizabeth Farrelly " A] febrile world of strong and desperate characters, alien lore and changing loyalties ... that Katz presents with luminous, edgy and at times almost unbearably vivid descriptions. Mysterious and compelling, the narrative is etched with a grim humour in its dark evocation of a world both eerie and strange and yet also disturbingly familiar." - Libby Hathorn"

Download or read book Blackhearts written by Nicole Castroman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-02-09 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A reimagining of the origin story of Blackbeard the pirate and his forbidden love affair with a maid in his father's house"--

Download or read book Every Sweet Regret written by Lexi Ryan and published by Ever After, LLC. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author Lexi Ryan brings you Every Sweet Regret, a sexy standalone romance about a single dad and the reformed party girl who’s loved him all her life. For as long as I can remember, Kace Matthews has been my brother’s best friend and my not-so-secret crush. But I knew nothing would ever happen between us. The successful single dad doesn’t fall for the hot mess party girl. Kace + Stella exists in the doodles in my high school notebooks and in my dreams. Never in real life. Until he finds me on a hookup app and starts flirting shamelessly. It turns out high school Stella was not prepared for Kace Matthews. Adult Stella isn’t much better, but I manage to break down the walls to show Kace the real me—not just the life-of-the-party exterior, but the vulnerable pieces I hide from the world. Combine that with the combustible chemistry we have in real life, and I’m a goner. Too bad it takes me so long to realize Kace doesn’t know I’m the girl he’s been falling for online. Telling him the truth now that he knows my secrets could mean losing everything, and that’s one regret that could break me.

Download or read book Original Horse Bible 2nd Edition written by Moira C. Reeve and published by Fox Chapel Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 844 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: · A comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about horses and our relationships with them · Includes detailed sections on a wide variety of informative topics, including the history of horses, evolution, domestication, horseback riding, training, competing, breeding, and more · Features complete profiles of 175 breeds of horses, from the Abaco Barb and Welsh Pony to the Shetland Pony, American Quarter Horse, Thoroughbred, and many more · Filled with 100 training and behavior tips, 50 riding, grooming, and health takeaways, 25 competitive activities, and countless other important and interesting must-know information · Written by two highly regarded horsewomen, the late Moira C. Allen and Sharon Biggs · Newly updated edition includes a new section on advances in imaging technology for horses and advances in medications, plus updated information on saddles, bits, poisonous plants, deworming practices, and natural horsemanship

Download or read book Orchid Flower Love Poetry written by Raymond Douglas Chong and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2012-11-14 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Orchid Flower Love Poetry: Amorous Moods of Sensuous Passion is the romantic gems of eclectic poetry by Raymond Douglas Chong. His moody love poetry amorously covers ecstasy, angst, and caprice. His lyrical verses sensitively describe love in an authentic way, with idiosyncratic reality and ingenious creativity. They are in the context of an orchid flower, a traditional Chinese motif for delicate beauty. The poems are passionate yearnings with vibrant and vivid lyrical imagery of love. Their scope includes the peaks and the valleys of the amorphous art of love. In sensuous passion, they will intimately connect his heart as poet with your heart as a reader.

Download or read book The Orchard Underground written by Mat Larkin and published by Hardie Grant Publishing. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An explosive, suspenseful and utterly brilliant middle-grade mystery for fans of Louis Sachar’s Holes. Not-quite twelve year-old Pri Kohli knows the town of Dunn’s Orchard better than anyone. After all, he was the first kid ever to live there. He knows its mysteries (none), its secrets (also none) and the best ways to have fun in it (climb a big tree and sit there). So why can’t he answer newcomer Attica Stone’s simple question: if the town’s called Dunn’s Orchard, where’s the orchard? As Pri and Attica go in search of forbidden fruit, they uncover stranger mysteries: a robot caterpillar, a mayor with a murky past, a Possibly Real Actual Boogeyman and a house made of doors in a haunted wood. But what will Pri and Attica do when they discover the biggest secret of all – that something truly magical is about to be destroyed, and the only way to save it could be by destroying the town itself? Mat Larkin’s stunning debut is a big-hearted, wildly surprising and deliciously well-plotted mystery for readers aged 8+ about the joy of discovery, and digging just that little bit deeper to uncover the truth. Shortlisted for the 2019 Readings Children's Book Prize Longlisted for the 2019 ABDA Awards: Best Designed Children's Book

Download or read book Diary of a Tokyo Teen written by Christine Mari Inzer and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book for comic lovers and Japanophiles of all ages, Diary of a Tokyo Teen presents a unique look at modern-day Japan through a young woman's eyes. Born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an American father in 1997, Christine Mari Inzer spent her early years in Japan and relocated to the United States in 2003. The summer before she turned sixteen, she returned to Tokyo, making a solo journey to get reacquainted with her birthplace. Through illustrations, photos, and musings, Inzer documented her journey. In Diary of a Tokyo Teen, Inzer explores the cutting-edge fashions of Tokyo's trendy Harajuku district, eats the best sushi of her life at the renowned Tsukiji fish market, and hunts down geisha in the ancient city of Kyoto. As she shares the trials and pleasures of travel from one end of a trip to the other, Inzer introduces the host of interesting characters she meets and offers a unique--and often hilarious--look at a fascinating country and an engaging tale of one girl rediscovering her roots. **Listed as a 2016 Great Graphic Novel for Teens by the Young Adult Library Services Association**

Download or read book The Girl Who Wrote in Silk written by Kelli Estes and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2015-07-07 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A USA TODAY BESTSELLER! "A powerful debut that proves the threads that interweave our lives can withstand time and any tide, and bind our hearts forever."—Susanna Kearsley, New York Times bestselling author of Belleweather and The Vanished Days A historical novel inspired by true events, Kelli Estes's brilliant and atmospheric debut is a poignant tale of two women determined to do the right thing, highlighting the power of our own stories. The smallest items can hold centuries of secrets... While exploring her aunt's island estate, Inara Erickson is captivated by an elaborately stitched piece of fabric hidden in the house. The truth behind the silk sleeve dated back to 1886, when Mei Lien, the lone survivor of a cruel purge of the Chinese in Seattle found refuge on Orcas Island and shared her tragic experience by embroidering it. As Inara peels back layer upon layer of the centuries of secrets the sleeve holds, her life becomes interwoven with that of Mei Lein. Through the stories Mei Lein tells in silk, Inara uncovers a tragic truth that will shake her family to its core—and force her to make an impossible choice. Should she bring shame to her family and risk everything by telling the truth, or tell no one and dishonor Mei Lien's memory? A touching and tender book for fans of Marie Benedict, Susanna Kearsley, and Duncan Jepson, The Girl Who Wrote in Silk is a dual-time period novel that explores how a delicate piece of silk interweaves the past and the present, reminding us that today's actions have far reaching implications. Praise for The Girl Who Wrote in Silk: "A beautiful, elegiac novel, as finely and delicately woven as the title suggests. Kelli Estes spins a spellbinding tale that illuminates the past in all its brutality and beauty, and the humanity that binds us all together." —Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author of The Beekeeper's Ball "A touching and tender story about discovering the past to bring peace to the present." —Duncan Jepson, author of All the Flowers in Shanghai "Vibrant and tragic, The Girl Who Wrote in Silk explores a horrific, little-known era in our nation's history. Estes sensitively alternates between Mei Lien, a young Chinese-American girl who lived in the late 1800s, and Inara, a modern recent college grad who sets Mei Lien's story free." —Margaret Dilloway, author of How to Be an American Housewife and Sisters of Heart and Snow

Download or read book Peony in Love written by Lisa See and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-05-04 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peony has neither seen nor spoken to any man other than her father, a wealthy Chinese nobleman. Nor has she ever ventured outside the cloistered women's quarters of the family villa. As her sixteenth birthday approaches she finds herself betrothed to a man she does not know, but Peony has dreams of her own. Her father engages a theatrical troupe to perform scenes from The Peony Pavilion, a Chinese epic opera, in their garden amidst the scent of ginger, green tea and jasmine. 'Unmarried girls should not be seen in public,' says Peony's mother, but her father allows the women to watch from behind a screen. Here, Peony catches sight of an elegant, handsome man and is immediately bewitched. So begins her unforgettable journey of love, desire, sorrow and redemption.

Download or read book Havana Noir written by Achy Obejas and published by Akashic Books. This book was released on 2007-10-01 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A] superb collection . . . The 18 stories by current and former residents of Havana are gritty, heartbreaking and capture the city.” —Orlando Sentinel To most outsiders, Havana is a tropical sin city. Habaneros know that this is neither new nor particularly true. In the real Havana—the lawless Havana that never appears in the postcards or tourist guides—the concept of sin has been banished by the urgency of need. And need—aching and hungry—inevitably turns the human heart darker, feral, and criminal. In this Havana, crime, though officially vanquished by revolutionary decree, is both wistfully quotidian and personally vicious. In the stories of Havana Noir, current and former residents of the city—some international sensations such as Leonardo Padura, others exciting new voices like Yohamna Depestre—uncover crimes of violence and loveless sex, of mental cruelty and greed, of self-preservation and collective hysteria. Other authors include: Pablo Medina, Alex Abella, Arturo Arango, Lea Aschkenas, Moisés Asís, Arnaldo Correa, Mabel Cuesta, Michel Encinosa Fú, Mylene Fernández Pintado, Carolina García-Aguilera, Miguel Mejides, Achy Obejas, Oscar F. Ortíz, Ena Lucía Portela, Mariela Varona Roque, and Yoss. “[A] remarkable collection . . . gritty tales of deprivation, depravity, heroic perseverance, revolution and longing in a city mythical and widely misunderstood.” —The Miami Herald