Mark Doty's prose has been hailed as "tempered and tough, sorrowing and serene" (The New York Times Book Review) and "achingly beautiful" (The Boston Globe). In Still Life with Oysters and Lemon he offers a stunning exploration of our attachment to ordinary things-how we invest objects with human store, and why.

Get to know English idioms with our friendly guide, perfect for beginners and intermediate learners. This book helps you understand common English phrases quickly and have fun along the way. With straightforward examples and short stories, each idiom is easy to grasp, making your English sound natural. You'll learn to use idioms the way native speakers do, which can make talking and writing in English much more interesting. Start exploring the world of idioms and boost your English skills today!

This is a fable of two unlikely friends: a great blue heron and a wise old oyster. The venerable oyster is the keeper of moysterings, which are the murmurs and whisperings of legends passed down through generations of oyster reefs. To preserve these ancient legends, the great blue heron must protect the oyster during the low tide. Together, as they wait for high tide to return, they share their tales of old and new.

In a near future where a series of environmental disasters has left much of the country underwater, Pearl lives on a floating oyster farm with her father and younger sister, Clover. Following her mum's death several years earlier, Pearl refuses to set foot on land, believing her illness was caused by the poisons in the ground. Meanwhile, Clover dreams of school, friends and a normal life. Then Nat comes to spend the summer at the sea farm while his scientist mum conducts some experiments. Leaving behind the mainland, with its strict rules and regulations, he brings with him a secret. But when the sisters promise to keep his secret safe, little do they realize that they may be risking everything... A thrilling and thought-provoking ecological adventure from the author of the highly acclaimed WHERE THE WORLD TURNS WILD. Perfect for fans of THE EXPLORER, THE LAST WILD and WHERE THE RIVER RUNS GOLD. PRAISE FOR WHERE THE WORLD TURNS WILD: "A sense of the natural world's curative power runs through this adventurous story like a seam of gold." - Guardian "Some books are excellent story-telling, and some books broaden your knowledge and mind, and some just ought to be written and this book is all three. I loved it." - Hilary McKay, author of THE SKYLARKS' WAR "A brilliant adventure that pulls you headlong into Juniper and Bear's world, where survival depends upon finding the wild." - Gill Lewis, author of A STORY LIKE THE WIND "An absorbing, thought-provoking début tapping into pertinent ecological themes." - The Bookseller "Wondrous, warm-hearted, wildly exhilarating [...] The world is familiar and frightening, the relationships between characters beautifully rendered - Nicola Penfold is an author to watch." - Nizrana Farook, author of THE GIRL WHO STOLE AN ELEPHANT

Men are creatures of the time in which they live and take their color from the conditions that surround them, as the chameleon does from the grass or leaves in which it hides.from Master Robert Life is unpredictable. Like a hurricane that descends without warning, it wreaks havoc, destroys fields and property, and brings peril to those in its wake. An event over which we have no control can dramatically affect our lives. Amos and Amelia, surrogate children of Robert Stafford, a wealthy planter from Cumberland Island, Georgia, grow from youth into adulthood during the Civil War. Master Robert is eccentric. He has Northern sympathies yet lives in the South, marries his mulatto slave, sires six children, and creates a peculiar society. His slaves have more freedom than those on any plantation in the South. The ominous and precipitous events of the war threaten his plantation and his life. Amos and Amelia, pulled like a riptide into this maelstrom, witness the evacuation of Fernandina, the largest naval invasion in US history, the burning of Master Roberts cotton shed, carry a message to a blockade runner, celebrate Jonkonnu, a slave holiday, and grieve at their mothers funeral. Master Robert captures the life and spirit of plantation society during the Civil War. It is refreshing to see several current movies and books such as Mrs. Lincolns Dressmaker, Lee Daniels The Butler, and Master Robert all imparting the perspective of the slave or former slave. In the case of Master Robert we get the opportunity to see life on a plantation through the eyes and ears of slave twins, Amos and Amelia. Mary Smith, Past President, Texas Social Studies Supervisors Assocaition, member of the Texas Council for the Social Studies abd currently an educational concusltant.

“Rich in history, lore, recipes, fascinating images—in short, a delicious book from start to finish” (Sandy Ingber, Grand Central Oyster Bar). Tracing the oyster’s role in cooking, art, literature, and politics from the dawn of time to present day, this unique book reveals how oysters have sustained communities financially and ecologically, and have loomed surprisingly large in legend and history. Using the oyster as the central theme, Smith has organized the book around time periods and geographical locations, looking at the oyster’s influence through colorful anecdotes, eye-opening scientific facts, and a wide array of visuals. The book also includes fifty recipes—traditional country dishes and contemporary examples from some of the best restaurants in the world. Renowned French chef Raymond Blanc calls Oyster “a brilliant crusade for the oyster that shows how food has shaped our history, art, literature, lawmaking, culture, and of course, love-making and cuisine.”

In Helen Hodgman’s dazzlingly written debut a young woman is trapped in a small city on an island at the end of the world—by motherhood and an absent husband, by busybody in-laws and neighbours, by a drab society yet to throw off the shackles of its colonial past. A darkly funny tale of a crack-up in stultifying suburbia, Blue Skies marked the emergence of a unique, acerbic voice in Australian fiction. This edition includes an introduction by the acclaimed Tasmanian author Danielle Wood. The clock always said three in the afternoon, no matter what you did to it...No matter what you tried, the day ran out then, and there was nothing left to fill it with. Helen Hodgman was the author of the novels Blue Skies (1976), Jack and Jill (1978; winner of the Somerset Maugham Award), Broken Words (1988; winner of the Christina Stead Prize), Passing Remarks (1996), Waiting for Matindi (1998) and The Bad Policeman (2001). She died in June, 2022. ‘Singularly searing and merciless prose.’ Sunday Age ‘As fresh, punchy and relevant now as it was on its [first] release...A compelling vision.’ Australian ‘Scarily unforgettable.’ Peter Conrad ‘Strange and memorable.’ Eva Hornung ‘The very essence of Tasmanian gothic.’ Carmel Bird ‘Sensuous...Prickly as a sea urchin.’ Nicholas Shakespeare ‘A convincing study of a woman slowly losing her mind.’ Sunday Herald ‘Elegantly written, atmospheric.’ Brenda Niall, Australian Book Review ‘Has a masterpiece’s power to thrill and discomfort.’ Sunday Tasmanian ‘Stylistically assured...Daring and persuasive in its depiction of a controlled and vengeful anguish.’ Peter Pierce, Sydney Morning Herald