“One of the most beautiful novels I have ever read.” —New York Times Book Review A stunning, powerful novel about a couple that pushes against traditional expectations, moving with their dogs to the Irish countryside where they embed themselves in nature and make attempts to disappear from society. It is the winter following the summer they met. A couple, Bell and Sigh, move into a remote house in the Irish countryside with their dogs. Both solitary with misanthropic tendencies, they leave the conventional lives stretched out before them to build another—one embedded in ritual, and away from the friends and family from whom they’ve drifted. They arrive at their new home on a clear January day and look up to appraise the view. A mountain gently and unspectacularly ascends from the Atlantic, “as if it had accumulated stature over centuries. As if, over centuries, it had steadily flattened itself upwards.” They make a promise to climb the mountain, but—over the course of the next seven years—it remains unclimbed. We move through the seasons with Bell and Sigh as they come to understand more about the small world around them, and as their interest in the wider world recedes. Seven Steeples is a beautiful and profound meditation on the nature of love and the resilience of nature. Through Bell and Sigh, and the life they create for themselves, Sara Baume explores what it means to escape the traditional paths laid out before us—and what it means to evolve in devotion to another person, and to the landscape.

The church steeple was one of the first art forms to be cultivated in this new land, becoming one of early Americas principal artistic achievements. The backstory of this distinctive art form is a fascinating one. The "Yankees," a homogenous group emerged in New England in the early 18th century. Their artistic abilities in design are also prevalent in silverwork and furniture craft, however it was in their steeples that they excelled and in which they were best expressed. In The Steeples of Old New England, Kirk Shivell traces both the history of these steeples and the Yankee society that built them, including many examples and anecdotes, covering the period between 1701 through 1860. This book provides a wealth of information students of history, architecture, and religion, or anyone else interested in reading about or visiting these historical landmarks. These magnificent edifices rose up everywhere on the newly settled New England landscape; the earliest built only a half-century before the American Revolution, and the last, built right before the Civil War. There are over 115 exquisitely beautiful illustrations, some full color, and others taken from documents of the period. A comprehensive directory and bibliography are also included.

Conrad Ostwalt explores the confluence of religion and popular cultural forms in the secular world, demonstrating that a secular religiosity has co-opted some of the functions previously reserved for religions institutions.

The first page of front inside of cover Page 9 of the introduction Page 82 Page 209

Connect with the original New England. We tend to think of icons as simple, graphic, stone or wooden objects without much depth or life, left overs from bygone eras. But Bruce Irving, former producer of the popular PBS show This Old House, will have none of that. In a collection of short essays, Irving taps into our collective consciousness by extolling the comforting sense of place we associate with such common and not-so-common New England sights as stone walls, village greens, lobster boats, classic ski runs, and garden cemeteries, to name but a few—symbols of enduring importance that are also still full of life and character. Curl up in your favorite chair, relax, and take a tour of our common heritage—or take this insightful cultural guide with you as you travel New England’s highways and byways. It’s sure to shed new light on the old stalwart landscape features you see every day.